Filters

Passive Microwave Filters

Filters are characterized by their transfer functions H() or H(f) as:

= = 1

where is the reflection coefficient. It is usually plotted as return loss in dB,

= 20 log10
or transmission loss in dB

= 20 log10 T

Note that in many cases the phase of the characteristic function is also important to explore nonlinear effects if any. The frequency response plots of four common types of filters look like the plots shown in following figure.

Active Filters 1. Low-Pass filters - the integrator revisited.

In the lab with op-amps it is considered the time response of the integrator circuit, but its frequency response can also be studied. First Order Low Pass Filter with Op Amp

If you derive the transfer function for the circuit above you will find that it is of the form:

which is the general form for first-order (one reactive element) low-pass filters. At high frequencies (>>o) the capacitor acts as a short, so the gain of the amplifier goes to zero. At very low frequencies (<<o) the capacitor is an open and the gain of the circuit is Ho. But what do we mean by low (or high) frequency? We can consider the frequency to be high when the large majority of current goes through the capacitor; i.e., when the magnitude of the capacitor impedance is much less than that of R1. In other words, we have high frequency when 1/C<<R1, or >>1/R1C=o. Since R1 now has little effect on the circuit, it should act as an integrator.

Likewise low frequency occurs when <<1/R1C, and the circuit will act as an amplifier with gain -R1/R2= Ho.

2. High-Pass Filters - the differentiator reconsidered.

The circuit below is a modified differentiator, and acts as a high pass filter. First Order High Pass Filter with Op Amp

Using analysis techniques similar to those used for the low pass filter, it can be shown that

which is the general form for first-order (one reactive element) low-pass filters. At high frequencies (>>o) the capacitor acts as a short, so the gain of the amplifier goes to H0= -R1/R2. At very low frequencies (<<o) the capacitor is an open and the gain of the circuit is Ho. For this circuit 0=1/R2C. Therefore this circuit is a high-pass filter (it passes high frequency signals, and blocks low frequency signals.

3. Band-Pass circuits
Besides low-pass filters, the other common types are high-pass (passes only high frequency signals), band-reject (blocks certain signals) and band-pass (rejects high and low frequencies, passing only signal around some intermediate frequency). 3

The simplest band-pass filter can be made by combining the first order low pass and high pass filters that we just looked at. Simple Band Pass Filter with Op Amp

This circuit will attenuate low frequencies (<<1/R2C2) and high frequencies (>>1/R1C1), but will pass intermediate frequencies with a gain of -R1/R2. However, this circuit cannot be used to make a filter with a very narrow band. To do that, it requires a more complex filter as discussed below. High Q (sharp bandwidth response) Bandpass Filters. For a second-order band-pass filter the transfer function is given by

where o is the center frequency, is the bandwidth and Ho is the maximum amplitude of the filter. These quantities are shown on the diagram below. The quantities in parentheses are in radian frequencies, the other quantities are in Hertz (i.e.

fo=o/2,

B=/2

Looking at the equation above, or the figure, you can see that as

and

that |H(s = j)| . You can also easily show that at = o that |H(s = jo)| = H0. Often you will see the equation above written in terms of the
quality factor, frequency,

Q,
as

which can be defined in terms of the bandwidth,

and center

o,

Q = o/

or simply as

, where is the difference

between frequencies at -3dB point (0.707) from the maximum pointing at the center frequency. Thus the Q factor, or quality factor, of a filter goes up as it becomes narrower and its response sharper. Higher Q factor means also better selectivity of the filter.

Deriving the transfer function of the circuit shown below: High-Q Bandpass Filter with Op Amp

It will be found that it acts as a band-pass filter with:

The center frequency and bandwidth are given by: Radian frequency Hertz

The notation R1||R2 denotes the parallel combination of R1 and R2,

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