Passive Butterworth Filter Cookbook

Stefan Hollos and J. Richard Hollos

Format and pricing: Paperback 7.5 x 9.25 inch (133 pages) $24.95, pdf $12.95
ISBN: 9781887187428 (paperback)
Publication date: July 2021

This book should allow anyone with basic electronics skills to quickly design a passive Butterworth filter.

All possible low pass and high pass filters up to tenth order, and all possible band pass and band stop filters up to eighth order are covered.

Schematics and component values for these filters are given along with formulas for scaling the values to the particular frequency the filter must operate at.

There is a design example for each of the filter types that shows how to scale the component values. A Spice simulation file for the design is given along with the frequency response.

If you want band pass or band stop filters higher than eighth order the book explains how to use a low pass filter to construct them. So the information is there to construct filters up to twentieth order but we don't recommend trying to do that. The non ideal nature of the components makes it hard to get the expected extra performance.

For software to calculate the component values for any order low pass Butterworth filter, see our analog signal processing page.

About the authors

Stefan Hollos and J. Richard Hollos are physicists and electrical engineers by training, and enjoy anything related to math, physics, engineering and computing. They are brothers and business partners at Exstrom Laboratories LLC in Longmont, Colorado.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• First Order Filters
• Second Order Filters
• Second Order Low Pass
• Second Order High Pass
• Second Order Band Pass
• Second Order Band Stop
• Butterworth
• Low Pass Butterworth
• Second Order Low Pass Butterworth
• Third Order Low Pass Butterworth
• Fourth Order Low Pass Butterworth
• Fifth Order Low Pass Butterworth
• Sixth Order Low Pass Butterworth
• Seventh Order Low Pass Butterworth
• Eighth Order Low Pass Butterworth
• Ninth Order Low Pass Butterworth
• Tenth Order Low Pass Butterworth
• High Pass Butterworth
• Second Order High Pass Butterworth
• Third Order High Pass Butterworth
• Fourth Order High Pass Butterworth
• Fifth Order High Pass Butterworth
• Sixth Order High Pass Butterworth
• Seventh Order High Pass Butterworth
• Eighth Order High Pass Butterworth
• Ninth Order High Pass Butterworth
• Tenth Order High Pass Butterworth
• Band Pass Butterworth
• Second Order Band Pass Butterworth
• Fourth Order Band Pass Butterworth
• Sixth Order Band Pass Butterworth
• Eighth Order Band Pass Butterworth
• Band Stop Butterworth
• Second Order Band Stop Butterworth
• Fourth Order Band Stop Butterworth
• Sixth Order Band Stop Butterworth
• Eighth Order Band Stop Butterworth
• References and Further Reading
• Components
• Resistor Standard Values
• Capacitor Standard Values
• Resistor Color Codes
• Capacitor Codes
• Inductor Manufacturers
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors