Microelectronics Journal 42 (2011) 999–1005

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Microelectronics Journal
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mejo

Transformation of LC-filters to active RC-circuits via the two-graph method

Marian Pierzcha"a a, Mourad Fakhfakh b,n
a
Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
b
University of Sfax, Tunisia

a r t i c l e i n f o abstract

Article history: This paper proposes a novel method of synthesis of active RC-filters. The process is based on the use of
Received 30 June 2010 the classical LC-network. The constructed equivalent active circuit uses a kind of active switches, i.e.
Received in revised form nullators and norators that ensure ‘switching’ between voltage graphs and current graphs. Accordingly,
17 May 2011
parameters of the constructed circuit depend only on the values of resistors and capacitors and not on
Accepted 23 May 2011
the parameters of the active elements. The proposed approach is illustrated through two examples.
Available online 14 June 2011
SPICE simulation results are given to show viability of the proposed method.
Keywords: & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Circuit synthesis
Simulated inductors
Active RC-circuits
The two-graph technique
Symbolic analysis
Nullators
Norators
CMOS
Current conveyors
OTA

1. Introduction Thus, this paper investigates and improves this approach. It is

In active filter design, Op-Amp-based active RC-filters were/are
exhaustively investigated. Among the used design methods, three
are most used, i.e. the cascade of biquadratic sections, simulation
based on passive LC ladder prototypes, and the multiple loop
feedback technique [1,2]. However, it has been found that
Op-Amp-based active RC-filters are not suitable for such design
since they are based on complex structures and are not suitable
for high-frequency operation, and electronic tuning, as well [2–4].
The use of some alternative techniques has been explored
recently. Indeed, tranconductance amplifiers (OTAs) and current
conveyors (CCs) have become prominent in filter design because
of their tunability and their high-frequency response (see for
instance [5–10]). Actually, these circuits have become the main
building blocks that are used in the aforementioned methods, i.e.
the cascade of biquadratic sections and the multiple loop feed-
back. The third method, i.e. the simulation based on passive LC
prototypes has not received equal attention when compared to
the other approaches. However, this design method may also be
very attractive in designing new structure of active filters, as it
will be shown in the following.
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ216 22893943; fax: þ216 74247498.
E-mail addresses: marian.pierzchala@pwr.wroc.pl (M. Pierzcha"a),
mourad.fakhfakh@ieee.org (M. Fakhfakh).
devoted to designing active filters on the basis of passive ladder
prototypes and other LC-filters.
Actually, the LC-ladder simulation technique consists on simulat-
ing the current/voltage relationships existing in the LC-ladder proto-
type [11,12]. In [13] another method was introduced. It uses the
mesh current description of the passive circuit to derive an RC-active
filter. However, using the current voltage relationships in the analysis
of the LC-ladder leads to very complicated relationships. Further,
only one type of the network elements representation (the impe-
dance form) in the mesh current methods. Besides, it is very difficult
to introduce active elements such as controlled sources and nullors.
Knowing that in the analysis of the ladder networks it is very
helpful to have the possibility to of describing the circuit’s
elements in both forms of representation, i.e. the impedance form
and the admittance form, to use ideal elements, and to handle
simple formulae, the main idea of the proposed method is to
exclusively use RC elements and active ‘‘switches’’.
These active switches, which are special kind of switches that
were proposed in [14], allow connecting components of the
circuits according to the corresponding voltage graph and/or
current graph.
Thus, the filters’ parameters should depend only on the values
of resistors and capacitors and not on the parameters and
performances of the active elements.
The two-graph method is used for this purpose since it allows
both forms of the network element representation, and handling

0026-2692/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mejo.2011.05.003
1000 M. Pierzcha!a, M. Fakhfakh / Microelectronics Journal 42 (2011) 999–1005

all types of controlled sources. Further, nullors can also be used, Table 1
and also it is important to mention that the technique is Two-graph stamps for controlled sources.a
intrinsically a non term-cancellation one.
Symbol I-graph V-graph
The reminder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2
briefly recalls the two-graph technique. Section 3 details the VCCS
proposed idea. Section 4 presents concluding remarks.

2. The two-graph technique

CCVS
Consider first the simpler case of network consisting of
immittance (impedance or admittance) elements and indepen-
dent sources only. We assume that the independent voltage
sources contain no loops, and the independent current sources
contain no cutsets. Then it is always possible to select a tree T
CCCS
such that all voltage sources are tree branches, and all current
sources are links (cotree branches). The network branches are
divided into four sets (each set may be empty) indicated by
subscript as follows:

VCVS
E: independent voltage sources
J: independent current sources,
ZT: impedance branches in the tree
YC: admittance branches in the cotree.

For such network [15] a unique signal-flow graph can be a

VCCS, CCVS, CCCS and VCCS refer respectively to voltage controlled current
constructed, as illustrated in Fig. 1. sources, current controlled voltage sources, current controlled current sources and
In Fig. 1 B1, B2, B3 denote the fundamental loop matrices and voltage controlled current sources.
Q1, Q2, Q3 the fundamental cut-set matrices. For the passive
networks Q1 ¼  (B1)t, Q2 ¼  (B2)t, Q3 ¼ (B3)t and the matrices Table 2
YC and ZT have a diagonal form. T¼(  Qt) matrix.
For the active networks, i.e. the network with controlled
IE ICT ILT IRT
sources the matrices YC and ZT are not longer diagonal. New
method must be developed to overcome this problem. The two IJ ðQIJ ,E Þt ðQIJ ,CT Þt ðQIJ ,LT Þt ðQIJ ,RT Þt
graph method was the first to appear in the literature [16]. Since ICC ðQCC ,IE Þt ðQCC ,CT Þt ðQCC ,LT Þt ðQCC ,RT Þt
the matrices of two different graphs, namely GI and GV, have been ILC ðQLC ,IE Þt ðQLC ,CT Þt ðQLC ,LT Þt ðQLC ,RT Þt
used to formulate the equations the matrices B1, B2, B3 and Q1, Q2, IGC ðQGC ,IE Þt ðQGC ,CT Þt ðQGC ,LT Þt ðQGC ,RT Þt
Q3 should be calculated individually, i.e. Qi a  (Bi)t for i¼1,2,3.
In the original method only voltage controlled current sources can
be used. Two-graph stamps of the other linear controlled sources Table 3
were proposed in [17], they are given in Table 1. With these B matrix.
stamps the matrices ZT and YC again have diagonal forms.
E V CT VLT V RT
This section briefly reviewed the SFG two-graph technique.
It highlighted main information that will be needed in the next VIJ BIJ ,E BIJ ,CT BIJ ,LT BIJ ,RT
sections. Further information and details regarding the two-graph V CC BCC ,E BCC ,CT BCC ,LT BCC ,RT
technique can be found in [15,16,18]. VLC BLC ,E BLC ,CT BLC ,LT BLC ,RT
VGC BGC ,E BGC ,CT BGC ,LT BGC ,RT

3. Transformation of LC-filters to active RC-circuits

Consider the LC-filters which can be modeled with inductors,
capacitors, resistors and independent voltage and current sources.
Tables 2 and 3 give the general forms of the transpose of cut-set-
matrix T and the loop-matrix B for such filters. Capacitors,
inductors and resistors can be placed both in the tree and the
cotree. The independent and controlled current sources are placed
only in the cotree branches and the independent and controlled
voltage sources are placed only in the tree branches.
Tables 2 and 3 give the general forms of the cut-set-matrix and
the loop-matrix, where matrices B and Q are decomposed into
sub-matrices. Each of them gives the current/voltage relationship
between the row’s element and the columns’ elements. For
instance, voltage across capacitor C, which belongs to the cotree, is
equal to BCC ,E Eþ BCC ,CT VCT þ BCC ,LT VLT þ BCC ,RT VRT .
For instance, the fundamental circuit matrix BLC and the
T-matrix TLC for the LC-filter shown in Fig. 2, which SFG is given
in Fig. 3, are presented in Table 4.

3.1. The proposed idea

The proposed idea consists of the following. From Fig. 3

it is possible to replace the inductor L by a capacitor C in the
Fig. 1. The SFG of passive networks. cotree branch and add elements to change directions of the
 M. Pierzcha!a, M. Fakhfakh / Microelectronics Journal 42 (2011) 999–1005 1001

Table 6
The equivalent RC combinations.

V Rd1 V Rd2 I Rd1 I Rd2

(1.a) (1.b)

VC 1 0 IC 0 1
V Cd 0 1 ICd 1 0

(2.a) (2.b)

VC 1 0 IC 0 1
V Cd 0 1 ICd 1 0

Fig. 2. An LC-filter. (3.a) (3.b)

VC 1 0 IC 0 1
V Cd 0 1 ICd 1 0

(4.a) (4.a)

VC 1 0 IC 0 1
V Cd 0 1 ICd 1 0

(5.a) (5.b)

VC 1 0 IC 0 1
Fig. 3. The SFG of the LC-filter. V Cd 0 1 ICd 1 0

(6.a) (6.b)

Table 4 VC 1 0 IC 0 1
(B)LC and (T)LC ¼ ((  Q)t)LC for LC-filters with independent V Cd 0 1 ICd 1 0
voltage sources.
(7.a) (7.b)
(a) (B)LC
VC 1 0 IC 0 1
V Cd 0 1 ICd 1 0
E VL
(8.a) (8.b)
VC 1 1
VC 1 0 IC 0 1
(b) (T)LC ¼ ((  Q)t)LC
V Cd 0 1 ICd 1 0
IE IL (9.a) (9.b)

IC 1 1 VC 0 1 IC 1 0
V Cd 1 0 ICd 0 1

(10.a) (10.b)

VC 0 1 IC 1 0
V Cd 1 0 ICd 0 1

(11.a) (11.b)

VC 0 1 IC 1 0
V Cd 1 0 ICd 0 1

(12.a) (12.b)

VC 0 1 IC 1 0
V Cd 1 0 ICd 0 1

(13.a) (13.b)

Fig. 4. SFG of the active modified LC graph. VC 0 1 IC 1 0

V Cd 1 0 ICd 0 1

Table 5 (14.a) (14.b)

(B)RC and (T)RC ¼ ((  Q)t)RC for the RC-filter.
VC 0 1 IC 1 0
(a) (B)RC V Cd 1 0 ICd 0 1

(15.a) (15.b)
E V Rd1 V Rd2

VC 0 1 IC 1 0
VC 1 1 0
V Cd 1 0 ICd 0 1
V Cd 0 0 1
(16.a) (16.b)
(b) (T)RC ¼ ((  Q)t)RC
VC 0 1 IC 1 0
IE I Rd1 I Rd2
V Cd 1 0 ICd 0 1

IC 1 0 1
(1.a)y(16.a): elements of BCC ,RT for equivalent RC circuit, (1.b)y(16.b): elements
ICd 0 1 0
of TCC ,RT for equivalent RC-circuits.
1002 M. Pierzcha!a, M. Fakhfakh / Microelectronics Journal 42 (2011) 999–1005

transmissions (from the voltage to the current on the direction
from the current to the voltage). This function can be realized
using resistors which will be placed in the tree branches of the
graph. The new SFG is presented in Fig. 4.
Accordingly, the B and T matrices will be modified as given in
Table 5.
It is simple to check using Mason’s formula that in this RC
configuration we have the similar network functions as in the LC
circuit. For example, in the LC-circuit the voltage on the capacitor
C is equal to VC ¼  E/(1 þs2LC) and for the RC-circuit VC ¼ E/
(1þs2Rd1Rd2CdC).
It is evident from Fig. 4 that the equivalent RC circuit should
have special kind of switches, i.e. switches which connect in the
different ways the voltage and the current graphs (VC ¼ VRd1 but
IRd1 ¼ ICd and not is equal to IC. Similarly, VCd ¼ VRd2 but IRd2 ¼ IC
and not is equal to ICd ).
It is to be noticed that there are also other combinations of RC
elements than those presented in Table 5. Altogether we have
sixteen such combinations. Table 6 gives these sixteen possible
combinations.
So, the nullator can be considered as switch which works as a
short circuit in the voltage graph and as an open circuit in the
current graph. Similarly, the norator can be considered as a switch
which works in the voltage graph as an open circuit and in the
current graph as a short circuit.
Thus, we have an easy way to construct the circuit with
nullators and norators which is equivalent to the original LC filter.
Fig. 6 presents the obtained nullator/norator-based circuit that is
equivalent to the ‘‘switched’’ circuit presented in Fig. 5.
Fig. 7 shows possible equivalencies between the nullor and the
negative second generation current conveyor (CCII-) [19–22], the
ideal MOS transistor [21,22] and an Op-Amp [23]. Thus, it is
possible to design the nullor-based circuit of Fig. 6 using MOS
transistors or current conveyors.
For instance, Fig. 10 shows the resonant filter designed using
two CCII-s.
Rd1

3.2. The ‘switched’ network E +

- Cd C
As it was mentioned above, the equivalent RC circuit should
have special kind of switches that behave differently in the
voltage and the current graphs.
Rd2
Thus, the graph presented in Fig. 4 can be constructed using
these special switches, as it is shown in Fig. 5, where VG and CG
refer to the corresponding position of the switch, i.e. correspond- Fig. 6. The nullor-based circuit that is equivalent to the circuit shown in Fig. 5.
ing to the voltage graph or to the current graph.
It has been shown in [14] that nullators and norators can work
as switches in the above circuits; they have different character-
istic in the voltage and current graph, see Table 7.

Fig. 7. Nullor vs. ideal CCII-, MOS transistor and Op-Amp.

Fig. 5. The switched RC-active filter equivalent to the graph given in Fig. 4.

Table 7
Two-graph stamps for nullator and norator.

Symbol Current-graph Voltage-graph

Nullator
a b
a b
a b

Norator
a b
a b
a b

Fig. 8. The first CCII-based circuit that is equivalent to the circuit of Fig. 6.
 M. Pierzcha!a, M. Fakhfakh / Microelectronics Journal 42 (2011) 999–1005 1003

3.3. Construction of the LC-filters

For the nullor-based circuit shown in Fig. 6 and according to

the equivalencies shown in Fig. 7, two circuits can be proposed
(depending on the nullator/norator chosen combination to form
the nullor, i.e. the switch). They are shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
As a second application example, let us consider the bi-band
circuit presented in Fig. 10, where two inductors are considered; a
grounded inductor and a floating one.
Table 8 presents the B and T matrices corresponding to the
circuit of Fig. 10.
By adopting the proposed method of transformation of the
inductor using capacitors and resistor, the following matrices can
be constructed:
Using the software proposed in [24], it is easy to compute
both transfer functions, T1(s) and T2(s), of the B and T matrices
corresponding to Tables 8 and 9, respectively. These transfer
functions are given by expressions (1) and (2), respectively.
Fig. 9. The second CCII-based circuit that is equivalent to the circuit of Fig. 6.
Vout a1 s þa1 T3 s3
T1 ðsÞ ¼ ¼ ð1Þ
Iin 1 þ t1 s þðT3 þ T2 þ T1 Þs2 þ t1 T3 s3 þT1 T3 s4

where a1 ¼L1, t1 ¼L1/RS, T1 ¼L1C1, T2 ¼L1C2 and T3 ¼L2C2.

L2 Vout a~ 1 t~ 2 s þ a~ 1 t~ 2 t~ 4 t~ 5 s3
T2 ðsÞ ¼ ¼
Iin 1 þ b~ 1 t~ 2 s þ ðt~ 4 t~ 5 þ t~ 2 t~ 3 þ t~ 1 t~ 2 Þs2 þ b~ 1 t~ 2 t~ 4 t~ 5 s3 þ t~ 1 t~ 2 t~ 4 t~ 5 s4

Iin RS C1 L1 C2 ð2Þ
out
where a~ 1 ¼ R12 , b~ 1 ¼ R12 =RS , t~ 1 ¼ R12 C11 , t~ 2 ¼ R11 C12 , t~ 3 ¼ R12 C21 ,
t~ 4 ¼ R22 C21 and t~ 5 ¼ R21 C22 .
Thus, by identifying expressions (1) and (2), we have: C1 ¼C12,
C2 ¼C21, L2 ¼R22R21C22 and L1 ¼R12R11C11.
Fig. 10. A bi-band filter. Accordingly, the switched circuit and subsequently the nulla-
tor/norator-based circuit can be constructed. Fig. 11 presents the

Table 8 Table 9
B and T matrices of the bi-band circuit of Fig. 10. B and T matrices of the RC equivalent circuit.

(a) B matrix V Rd11 V Rd12 V Rd21 V Rd22

VL1 VL2
V I in 1 0 0 0
V Rs 1 0 0 0
V I in 1 0
VC11 1 0 0 0
V Rs 1 0
VC12 0 1 0 0
VC1 1 0
VC21 1 0 1 0
VC2 1 1
VC22 0 0 0 1

(b) T ¼(  Q)t matrix I Rd11 I Rd12 I Rd21 I Rd22

IL1 IL2 Iin 0 1 0 0

I Rs 0 1 0 0
Iin 1 0 IC11 0 1 0 0
I Rs 1 0 IC12 1 0 0 0
IC1 1 0 IC21 0 1 0 1
IC2 1 1 IC22 0 0 1 0

Fig. 11. The ‘‘switched’’ circuit obtained from Table 9.

1004 M. Pierzcha!a, M. Fakhfakh / Microelectronics Journal 42 (2011) 999–1005

equivalent ‘‘switched’’ circuit that satisfies the relationships 4. Conclusion

presented in Table 9.
The CCII- was used to design the simulated inductor. The
obtained circuit is given by Fig. 12.
In order to highlight the viability of the proposed circuit, we
present in Fig. 13 SPICE simulation results of the circuit shown in
Fig. 12, where we notice a good agreement between ideal and
simulated results. Differences between both curves as well as the
parasitic series resistance can be lessened by optimizing the
sizing of the used CCII-s and also the values of the passive
components. Fig. 14 presents the used CMOS CCII- [25]. The
technology under consideration is AMS 0.35 mm, the voltage
power supply is (VDD ¼ þ1.5 V/VSS ¼–1.5 V), and Ibias ¼50 mA. For
L1 ¼L2 ¼1 mH, component values are chosen as follows:
R11 ¼R12 ¼R21 ¼ R22 ¼1 kO and C11 ¼C12 ¼C21 ¼C22 ¼1 nF.
A novel synthesis method was presented. It deals with synthe-
sizing equivalent RC-active circuits from LC-circuits. The proposed
approach is based on the use of the SFG with two graph technique.
Loop matrix (BRC) and cutest matrix (QRC) are constructed from
the (BLC) and (QLC) matrices using the equivalent appropriate RC
sub-matrix combination that allow replacing the s2LxCx terms by
Ry1Ry2Cx1Cx2s2 equivalent terms. Some kind of switches was used
to ‘switch’ between the current-graph and the voltage-graph.
Nullator/norator pairs were used to simulate such weird ele-
ments. Since nullors can reproduce the ideal behavior of elements
such as transistors, current conveyors, Op-Amps etc., viability of
the proposed approach was highlighted by synthesizing two
circuits using CCII-s. SPICE simulations were also given to show

Fig. 12. The CCII-based RC bi-band circuit.

RC-circuit

LC-circuit

Fig. 13. SPICE simulation results of the circuit of Fig. 8 ((Vout/Iin)dB ¼ f(frequency)).

VDD

Y X Z

Ibias

VSS

Fig. 14. The CMOS CCII.

 M. Pierzcha!a, M. Fakhfakh / Microelectronics Journal 42 (2011) 999–1005
the good agreement between the ideal LC circuit and the synthe-
sized active RC-circuit.
The proposed idea was validated and good results were
obtained. Next work will deal with automating the generation
procedure and with eliminating (minimizing) the use of floating
components.
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