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Sallen and Key Filter

Sallen-Key Filter topology is used as the building block to implement higher order active lters

The Sallen and Key Filter design is a second-order active lter topology which we can use as the basic building
blocks for implementing higher order lter circuits, such as low-pass (LPF), high-pass (HPF) and band-pass (BPF)
lter circuits.

As we have seen in this lters section, electronic lters, either passive or active, are used in circuits where a
signals amplitude is only required over a limited range of frequencies. The advantage of using Sallen-Key Filter
designs is that they are simple to implement and understand.

The Sallen and Key topology is an active lter design based around a single non-inverting operational ampli er
and two resistors, thus creating a voltage-controlled voltage-source (VCVS) design with lter characteristics of,
high input impedance, low output impedance and good stability, and as such allows individual Sallen-key lter
sections to be cascaded together to produce much higher order lters.

But before we look at the design and operation of the Sallen-key lter, let’s rst remind ourselves of the
characteristics of a single resistor-capacitor, or RC network when subjected to a range of input frequencies.

The Voltage Divider

When two (or more) resistors are connected together across a DC supply voltage, different voltage values will
be developed across each resistor creating what is basically called a voltage divider or potential divider network.

Resistive Voltage Divider

The basic circuit shown consists of two resistors in series connected across
an input voltage, VIN.

Ohm’s Law tells us that the voltage dropped across a resistor is the sum of
the current owing through it multiplied by its resistive value, V = I*R, so if
the two resistors are equal, then the voltage dropped across both resistors,
R1 and R2 will also be equal and is split equally between them.

The voltage developed or dropped across resistor R2 represents the output voltage, VOUT and is given by the
ratio of the two resistors and the input voltage. Thus the transfer function for this simple voltage divider
network is given as:

Resistive Voltage Divider Transfer Function

But what would happen to the output voltage, VOUT if we changed the input voltage to an AC supply or signal,
and varied its frequency range. Well actually nothing, as resistors are generally not affected by changes in
frequency (wirewounds excluded) so their frequency response is zero, allowing AC, Irms2*R voltages to be
developed or dropped across the resistors just the same as it would be for steady state DC voltages.

The RC Voltage Divider

If we change resistor R1 above to a capacitor, C as shown, how would that affect our previous transfer function.
We know from our tutorials about Capacitors that a capacitor behaves like an open circuit once charged when
connected to a DC voltage supply.

RC Voltage Divider
Thus when a steady state DC supply is connected to VIN, the capacitor will be fully charged after 5 time
constants (5T = 5RC) and in which time it draws no current from the supply. Therefore there is no current
owing through the resistor, R and no voltage drop developed across it, so no output voltage. In other words,
capacitors block steady state DC voltages once charged.
 If we now change the input supply to an AC sinusoidal voltage, the
characteristics of this simple RC circuit completely changes as the DC or
constant part of the signal is blocked. So now we are analysing the RC circuit
in the frequency domain, that is the part of the signal that depends on time.

In an AC circuit, a capacitor has the property of capacitive reactance, XC

but we can still analyse the RC circuit in the same way as we did with the
resistor only circuits, the difference is that the impedance of the capacitor now depends on frequency.

For AC circuits and signals, capacitive reactance (XC), is the opposition to alternating current ow through a
capacitor measured in Ohm’s. Capacitive reactance is frequency dependant, that is at low frequencies (ƒ ≅ 0)
the capacitor behaves like an open circuit and blocks them

At very high frequencies (ƒ ≅ ∞) the capacitor behaves like a short circuit and pass the signals directly to the
output as VOUT = VIN. However, somewhere in between these two frequency extremes the capacitor has an
impedance given by XC. So our voltage divider transfer function from above becomes:

Thus changes in frequency, causes changes in XC, which causes changes in the magnitude of the output voltage.
Consider the circuit below.

RC Filter Circuit

The graph shows the frequency response of this simple 1st-order RC circuit. At low frequencies the voltage gain
is extremely low, as the input signal is being block by the reactance of the capacitor. At high frequencies the
voltage gain is high (unity) as the reactance is causes the capacitor to effectively become a short-circuit to these
high frequencies, so VOUT = VIN
However, there becomes a frequency point where the reactance of the capacitor is equal to the resistance of the
resistor, that is: XC = R and this is called the “critical frequency” point, or more commonly called the cut-off
frequency, or corner frequency ƒC.

As the cut-off frequency occurs when XC = R the standard equation used to calculate this critical frequency
point is given as:

Cut-off Frequency Equation

The cut-off frequency, ƒC de nes where the circuit, in this example, changes from attenuating or blocking all
frequencies below, ƒC and starts to pass all the frequencies above this ƒC point. Thus the circuit is called a “high
pass lter”.

The cut-off frequency is where the ratio of the input-to-output signal has a magnitude of 0.707 and when
converted to decibels is equal to –3dB. This is often referred to as a lters 3dB down point.

As the reactance of the capacitor is related to frequency, that is capacitive reactance (XC) varies inversely with
applied frequency, we can modify the above voltage divider equation to obtain the transfer function of this
simple RC high pass lter circuit as shown.

RC Filter Circuit

One of the main disadvantages of an RC lter is that the output amplitude will always be less than the input so it
can never be greater than unity. Also the external loading of the output by more RC stages or circuits will have
an affect on the lters characteristics. One way to overcome this problem is to convert the passive RC lter into
an “Active RC Filter” by adding an operational ampli er to the basic RC con guration.
By adding an operational ampli er, the basic RC lter can be designed to provide a required amount of voltage
gain at its output, thus changing the lter from an attenuator to an ampli er. Also due to the high input
impedance and low output impedance of an operational ampli er prevents external loading of the lter allowing
it to be easily adjusted over a wide frequency range without altering the designed frequency response.

Consider the simple active RC high-pass lter below.

Active High Pass Filter

The RC lter part of the circuit responds the same as above, that is passing high frequencies but blocking low
frequencies, with the cut-off frequency set by the values of R and C. The operational ampli er, or op-amp for
short, is con gured as a non-inverting ampli er whose voltage gain is set by the ratio of the two resistors, R1
and R2.

Then the closed loop voltage gain, AV in the passband of a non-inverting operational ampli er is given as:

Cut-off Frequency Equation

RC Filter Example No1

A simple 1st-order active high-pass lter is require to have a cut-off frequency of 500Hz and a passband gain of
9dB. Calculate the required components assuming a standard 741 operational ampli er is used.

From above we have seen that the cut-off frequency, ƒC is determined by the values of R and C in the
frequency-selective RC circuit. If we assume a value for R of 5kΩ (any reasonable value would do), then the
value of C is calculated as:
The calculated value of C is 63.65nF, so the nearest preferred value used is 62nF.

The gain of the high pass lter in the passband region is to be +9dB which equates to a voltage gain, AV of 2.83.
Assume an arbitrary value for feedback resistor, R1 of 15kΩ, this gives a value for resistor R1 of:

Again the calculated value of R2 is 8197Ω. The nearest preferred value would be 8200Ω or 8.2kΩ. This then
gives us the nal circuit for our active high-pass lter example of:

High Pass Filter Circuit

We have seen that a simple rst-order high-pass lters can be made using a single resistor and capacitor
producing a cut-off frequency, ƒC point where the output amplitude is –3dB down from the input amplitude. By
adding a second RC lter stage to the rst, we can convert the circuit into a second-order high-pass lter.

Second-order RC Filter
The simplest second order RC lter consists of two RC sections cascade together as shown. However, for this
basic con guration to operate correctly, input and output impedances of the the two RC stages should not affect
each others operation, that is they should be non-interacting.

High Pass Filter Circuit

Cascading one RC lter stage with another (identical or different RC values), does not work very well because
each successive stage loads the previous one and when more RC stages are added, the cut-off frequency point
moves further away from the designed or required frequency.

One way to overcome this problem for a passive lter design is to have the input impedance of the second RC
stage at least 10 times greater than the output impedance of the rst RC stage. That is RB = 10*R1 and CB =
CA/10 at the cut-off frequency.

The advantage of increasing the component values by a factor of 10 is that the resulting second-order lter
produces a steeper roll-off of 40dB/decade than cascaded RC stages. But what if you wanted to design a 4th or a
6th-order lter, then the calculation of ten times the value of the previous components can be time consuming
and complicated.

One simple way to cascade together RC lter stages which do not interact or load each other to create higher-
order lters (individual lter sections need not be identical) which can be easily tuned and designed to provide
required voltage gain is to use Sallen-key Filter stages.

Sallen and Key Filters

Sallen-Key is one of the most common lter con gurations for designing rst-order (1st-order) and second-
order (2nd-order) lters and as such is used as the basic building blocks for creating much higher order lters.

The main advantages of the Sallen-key lter design are:

Simplicity and Understanding of their Basic Design

 The use of a Non-inverting Ampli er to Increase Voltage Gain
First and Second-order Filter Designs can be Easily Cascaded Together
Low-pass and High-pass stages can be Cascaded Together
Each RC stage can have a different Voltage Gain
Replication of RC Components and Ampli ers
Second-order Sallen-key Stages have Steep 40dB/decade roll-off than cascaded RC

However, there are some limitations to the basic Sallen-key lter design in that the voltage gain, AV and
magni cation factor, Q are closely related due to the use of an operational ampli er within the Sallen-key
design. Almost any Q value greater than 0.5 can be realised since using a non-inverting con guration, the
voltage gain, AV will always be greater than 1, (unity) but must be less than 3 otherwise it will become unstable.

The simplest form of Sallen-key lter design is to use equal capacitor and resistor values (but the C’s and R’s
don’t have to be equal), with the operational ampli er con gured as a unity-gain buffer as shown. Note that
capacitor RA is no longer connected to ground but instead provides a positive feedback path to the ampli er.

Sallen-key High Pass Filter Circuit

The passive components CA, RA, CB and RB form the second-order frequency-selective circuit.Thus at low
frequencies, capacitors CA and CB appear as open circuits, so the input signal is blocked resulting in no output.
At higher frequencies, CA and CB appear to the sinusoidal input signal as short circuits, so the signal is buffered
directly to the output.

However, around the cut-off frequency point, the impedance of CA and CB will be the same value as RA and RB,
as noted above, so the positive feedback produced through CB provides voltage gain and and increase in output
signal magni cation, Q.

Since we now have two sets of RC networks, the above equation for the cut-off frequency for a Sallen-Key lter
is modi ed too:
Sallen-key Cut-off Frequency Equation

If the two series capacitors CA and CB are made equal (CA = CB = C) and the two resistors RA and RB are also
made equal (RA = RB = R), then the above equation simpli es to the original cut-off frequency equation of:

As the operational ampli er is con gured as a unity gain buffer, that is A = 1, the cut-off frequency, ƒC and Q
are completely independent of each other making for a simpler lter design. Then the magni cation factor, Q is
calculated as:

Therefore for the unity-gain buffer con guration, the voltage gain (AV) of the lter circuit is equal to 0.5, or -6dB
(over damped) at the cut-off frequency point, and we would expect to see this because its a second-order lter
response, as 0.7071*0.7071 = 0.5. That is -3dB*-3dB = -6dB.

However, as the value of Q determines the response characteristics of the lter, the proper selection of the
operational ampli ers two feedback resistors, R1 and R2, allows us to select the required passband gain A for
the chosen magni cation factor, Q.

Note that for a Sallen-key lter topology, selecting the value of A to be very close to the maximum value of 3, will
result in high Q values. A high Q will make the lter design sensitive to tolerance variations in the values of
feedback resistors R1 and R2. For example, setting the voltage gain to 2.9 (A = 2.9) will result in the value of Q
being 10 (1/(3-2.9)), thus the lter becomes extremely sensitive around ƒC.

Sallen-key Filter Response

Then we can see that the lower the value of Q the more stable will be the Sallen and Key lter design. While high
values of Q can make the design unstable, with very high gains producing a negative Q would lead to
oscillations.

Sallen and Key Filter Example No2

Design a second-order high-pass Sallen and Key Filter circuit with the following characteristics: ƒC = 200Hz, and
Q = 3

To simplify the math’s a little, we will assume that the two series capacitors CA and CB are equal (CA = CB = C)
and also the two resistors RA and RB are equal (RA = RB = R).

The calculated value of R is 7957Ω, so the nearest preferred value used is 8kΩ.

For Q = 3, the gain is calculated as:

If A = 2.667, then the ratio of R1/R2 = 1.667 as shown.

The calculated value of R2 is 5998Ω, so the nearest preferred value used 6000Ω or 6kΩ. This then gives us the
nal circuit for our Sallen and Key high-pass lter example of:

Sallen and Key High Pass Filter

Then with a cut-off or corner frequency of 200Hz, a passband gain of 2.667, and a maximum voltage gain at the
cut-off frequency of 8 (2.667*3) due to Q = 3, we can show the characteristics of this second-order high-pass
Sallen and Key lter in the following Bode plot.

Sallen and Key Filter Bode Plot

Sallen and Key Filter Summary
We have seen here in this tutorial that the Sallen-Key con guration, also known as a voltage-controlled, voltage-
source (VCVS) circuit is the most widely used lter topologies due mainly to the fact that the operational
ampli er used within its design can be con gured as a unity gain buffer or as a non-inverting ampli er.

The basic Sallen-key lter con guration can be used to implement different lter responses such as,
Butterworth, Chebyshev, or Bessel with the correct selection of RC lter network. Most practical values of R
and C can be used remembering that for a speci c cut-off frequency point, the values of R and R are inversely
proportional. That is as the value of R is made smaller, C becomes larger, and vice versa.

The Sallen-key is a 2nd-order lter design which can be cascaded together with other RC stages to create higher-
order lters. Multiple lter stages need not be the same but can each have different cut-off frequency or gain
characteristics. For instance, putting together a low-pass stage and a high-pass stage to create a Sallen and Key
band-pass lter.

Here we have looked at designing a Sallen-key high-pass lter, but the same rules apply equally for a low-pass
design.The voltage gain, AV of the op-amp determines its response and is set by the voltage divider resistors, R1
and R2 remembering that the voltage gain must be less than 3 otherwise, the lter circuit will become unstable.

4 Comments

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Pooja
How do I cite this page? Is bibtex available for this?

Posted on November 13th 2019 | 2:53 am

 Reply

Joe
how is the equation for Q developed? Q=1/(3-A) ie: where did the value (3) come from?

Posted on January 05th 2020 | 10:13 pm

 Reply

Conor Kearney
Hi Joe, its a simpli cation from a larger equation for Q.

When the component values of the sallen key topology are not equal i.e R1≠R2 C1≠C2 the
equation for Q is:
Q=√(R1 C1 R2 C2 )/(C2 (R1+R2 ) +R1 C2 (1-K))

When R1=R2=R and C1=C2=C

The above equation simpli es down to

Q=1/(3-A)

If it’s still not obvious where 3 comes from try simplify the big equation above should be obvious
when you sort out the denominator

Posted on April 21st 2020 | 5:10 pm

 Reply

Wayne Storr
As explained in the tutorial, voltage gain, Av must be greater than 1 and less than 3, otherwise it
will become unstable.

Posted on January 06th 2020 | 10:05 pm

 Reply