1834 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 63, NO.

7, JULY 2014

Noise Reduction in AC-Coupled Amplifiers

Ernesto Serrano-Finetti, Member, IEEE, and Ramon Pallas-Areny, Fellow, IEEE

Abstract— AC-coupled amplifiers are noisier than dc-coupled

amplifiers because of the thermal noise of the resistor(s) in the
ac-coupling network and the increased contribution of the
amplifier input noise current i n . Both contributions, however,
diminish if the corner frequency fc of the high-pass filter
observed by the signal is lowered, the cost being a longer transient
response. At the same time, the presence of large resistors in the
ac-coupling network suggests that the use of FET-input amplifiers
will be advantageous because i n is smaller than in bipolar
amplifiers. However, the noise floor, defined as that for a
dc-coupled amplifier, can be larger for FET-input amplifiers
because of their higher input voltage noise. Therefore, there is no
clear criterion to decide which amplifier type is quieter. In this
paper, we propose the quotient between the high-pass frequency
of the signal bandwidth ( f L ) and fc (K = f L / fc ) as quantitative
design parameter to reduce the additional noise contributed
by a first-order ac-coupling network as compared with dc
coupling. Using this parameter noise is greatly reduced without
unnecessarily lengthening the transient response that results from
the use of common qualitative design criteria. We demonstrate
that relatively large K values yield total noise closer to the noise Fig. 1. AC-coupled voltage amplifier for (a) resistive signal source that
floor, hence it is better not to determine f L at the front amplifier exhibits a voltage offset vos and (b) capacitive signal source.
stage but later on in the signal chain. Furthermore, a large K
value permits bipolar op-amps to achieve lower noise than FET
amplifiers even for capacitive signal sources, provided amplifier
biasing is guaranteed. results in an ac-coupling network. In both cases, ac coupling
Index Terms— AC-coupling networks, capacitance output introduces noise additional to that in dc coupling.
sensors, fast Fourier transform noise measurement, high-pass Noise in ac-coupled amplifiers has been considered in
filters, noise reduction, op-amp noise, resistive sensors, voltage several previous works relative to implementations based on
amplifiers. monolithic operational amplifiers (op-amps) and some qual-
itative design guidelines have been proposed. For resistive
I. I NTRODUCTION signal sources, a large R1 increases the contribution from the
op-amp’s input noise current in a 1-Hz bandwidth hence JFET
D YNAMIC signals coming from resistive sensors often
comprise a small ac signal riding on a much larger offset
voltage. This happens, for example, with low-to-medium-
or CMOS op-amps are preferred over bipolar op-amps as
these have larger noise currents [1]. Nevertheless, it has also
been pointed out that for capacitive signal sources (Rs = 0),
sensitivity resistive sensors, such as strain gages, for seismic
the weighing functions of both the op amp noise current
measurements and resistance temperature detectors placed
and the thermal noise of R1 are low-pass shaped with the
on dc voltage dividers or excited by a dc current source.
same cutoff frequency fc as the ac-coupling network, which
Commonly, an ac-coupling network, a first-order RC high-
makes the bandwidth of those two noise sources completely
pass filter, is introduced in between the signal source and the
different from the (high-pass) signal bandwidth [2]. Therefore,
amplifier [Fig. 1(a)] to block that offset voltage. Similarly,
conclusions for 1-Hz bandwidth cannot be directly extrap-
when a capacitive signal source is connected to an amplifier,
olated for total output noise. For narrowband, e.g., carrier-
a resistor from the amplifier input to signal ground provides a
based capacitive signal sources, it has been suggested that
path for input bias or leakage currents [Fig. 1(b)], which also
a very large R1 will reduce noise contribution from the
Manuscript received June 28, 2013; revised September 27, 2013; accepted input network, together with the use of JFET or CMOS
November 14, 2013. Date of publication January 29, 2014; date of current technology [3]. For baseband signals from capacitive sources,
version June 5, 2014. This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry such as physiological signals recorded with capacitive elec-
of Science and Innovation under Project TEC2009-13022, and in part by the
European Regional Development Fund. The Associate Editor coordinating the trodes, lowering the cutoff frequency fc of the input network
review process was Dr. Theodore Laopoulos. and the use of JFET or CMOS op-amps have also been
The authors are with the Instrumentation, Sensors and Interfaces Group, proposed to reduce noise [4].
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech, Barcelona 08860, Spain
(e-mail: ernesto.serrano@upc.edu). Nevertheless, because the cutoff frequency and time con-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIM.2014.2299525 stant of a high-pass filter are inversely related, a decreasing f c
0018-9456 © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
SERRANO-FINETTI AND PALLAS-ARENY: NOISE REDUCTION IN AC-COUPLED AMPLIFIERS 1835

implies a lengthening of the transient response, which could

be a design constraint in some applications. Furthermore,
FET op-amps have larger input voltage noise than bipolar
op-amps [1], [6], particularly at low frequency (where flicker
noise is dominant); hence, their use may largely increase the
overall noise as compared with that of dc-coupled amplifiers.
This paper aims to provide quantitative design criteria for
ac-coupled amplifiers able to improve noise performance when
design constraints, such as voltage loading effect and transient
response, are considered. For this purpose, we thoroughly
analyze the noise model of a commercially available op-amp-
based amplifier considering the usual noise sources specified
by the manufacturer, flicker noise included, and assess how
the op-amp technology used affects total noise.

II. N OISE M ODEL AND A NALYSIS

A. Equivalent Input Noise in an AC-Coupled Amplifier
For resistive signal sources [Fig. 1(a)], if the input
impedance of the amplifier when considered alone is very high,
the external R1 will limit the input impedance observed by the
signal source in the passband. Hence, to avoid undesired signal
attenuation, R1 should be much larger than Rs ; typically,
R1 > 2 N Rs to limit that attenuation to less than 1 least
significant bit in a system with N-bit resolution. For capacitive
sensors connected to a voltage amplifier [Fig. 1(b)], this
requirement translates into Cin < Cs /2 N .
Fig. 2(a) shows the Thévenin equivalent of the circuits in
Fig. 1(a) and (b). Z 1 is the equivalent impedance to ground as
observed from the amplifier input (not to be confused with the
amplifier’s input impedance observed from the signal source),
which includes the ac-coupling network. For the resistive
signal source in Fig. 1(a) that impedance is
1 + j ω Rs C 1
Z 1 = R1 . (1)
1 + j ω (R1 + Rs ) C1
By defining
1 1
fc = ≈
2π (R1 + Rs ) C1 2π R1 C1
1 so-called corner frequency fce , the frequency where the PSD
fs = >> f c (2)
2π Rs C1
(1) can be rewritten as
1 + j f / fs
Z 1 ≈ R1 . (3)
1 + j f / fc
From (2), the high-pass transfer function observed by the
signal source is
j f / fc
Hac ( f ) ≈ . (4)
1 + j f / fc
According to (3), Z 1 decreases from R1 at dc to Rs at
frequencies well above f s , whereas if the signal was directly
connected to the amplifier, it would be Z 1 = Rs at all
frequencies. Because f c is the −3-dB frequency for both Z 1
√
and Hac ( f ), |Z 1 ( f c )| will be about R1 / √2 and decreasing
toward Rs , whereas |Hac ( f c )| will be 1/ 2 and increasing
toward one. The condition R1  Rs implies f c  f s , and
therefore Z 1 will remain relatively large up to frequencies well
Fig. 2. (a) Thévenin equivalent for an ac-coupled voltage amplifier. (b) Noise
model studied, which comprises amplifier noise sources en and in , and the
thermal noise from Z 1 , et Z1 .
inside the passband of the high-pass filter whereas Hac( f ) will
be about one inside that passing band.
For the capacitive signal source in Fig. 1(b), (1) becomes
R1 R1
Z1 = =  (5)
1 + j ω R1 C s 1 + j f fc
and (3) and (4) remain the same by redefining
f c = (2π R1 Cs )−1 . Because of the similarity of Z 1 in
both cases, the following analysis will first consider resistive
signal sources and later discuss the validity of the results for
capacitive signal sources.
Fig. 2(b) shows the equivalent circuit for noise analysis,
which includes the amplifier intrinsic voltage en ( f ) and cur-
rent i n ( f ) noise sources [1], and the thermal noise et Z 1( f )
from Z 1 . The power spectral density (PSD) en2 ( f ) of op-amps
can be modeled by the sum of two noise sources of different
nature: 1) white noise en2 , which is frequency independent, and
2) flicker noise that increases as 1/ f at frequencies below the
of excess noise equals the PSD of white noise. For bipolar
op-amps, f ce is below 10 Hz for low-noise models and is
higher than 100 Hz for common models [5], whereas for
JFET or CMOS op-amps, f ce typically ranges from hundreds
of hertz to about 2 kHz [6]. The frequency behavior of the
PSD of i n ( f ) depends on op-amp technology. For bipolar
op-amps, i n2 ( f ) depends on frequency the same as noise
voltage: it is constant (i n2 ) at frequencies above, say, 1 kHz,
and increases as 1/ f for decreasing frequency, exhibiting also
a corner frequency f ci . Typically, fci is more than 10 times f ce .
For JFET and CMOS op-amps, i n ( f ) is constant at low
frequency but increases as f for frequencies higher than, say,
1–10 kHz [1], [6]. The cutoff frequency fc of the high-pass
filter in Fig. 1(a) and (b) will usually be below 1 kHz, hence
i n ( f ) can be assumed to be constant below f c for most of the
sensor amplifiers built with JFET or CMOS op-amps.
Each contributing noise voltage source e2j ( f ) in Fig. 2(b)
will be amplified by a respective transfer function H j ( f ),
1836 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 63, NO. 7, JULY 2014

which will shape its PSD to e2j ( f )|H j ( f )|2 . The PSD of By defining K = f L / f c , the maximum added noise occurs
each noise current source will be multiplied by the respective when K = 1 and its power is
impedance observed by each source. The equivalent input   π
 fci
noise power density will be the sum of all PSDs [1] 2
E ni,added  = i n2 R12 ln (2) + 4kTR1 + i n2 R12 fL
n K =1
2 4
 2
2
etotal = e2j ( f )  H j ( f ) . (6) π 2 2 f ci  
j =1 ≈ i n R1 + 4kTR1 + i n2 R12 f L (14)
4 2
Z 1 determines both the contribution ei ( f ) from the ampli-
fier noise current i n ( f ) and the thermal noise voltage et Z 1( f ). where ln(2)/(π/4) = 0.88 ≈ 1. The preceding analysis and
The total equivalent input noise PSD will thus be equations hold true for capacitive signal sources, where Rs = 0
( f s = ∞); hence, the noise floor in (12) is then that due only
2
eni ( f ) = en2 ( f ) + et2Z 1 ( f ) + ei2 ( f ) to en .
 
f ce 1 + f 2 /( f c f s )
= en 1 +
2
+ 4kT R1
f 1 + ( f / f c )2 B. Noise Reduction
 
fci 1 + ( f / fs )2
+ i n2 R12 1 + (7) Equations (12) and (13) show that the ac-coupling network
f 1 + ( f / f c )2 increases the noise contributed by Z 1 and by noise current
where we have assumed that the amplifier has bipolar input, i n ( f ), but not noise contributed by the amplifier noise voltage
which is the worst case condition for noise current, both en ( f ). Hence, to reduce noise by appropriately selecting f c
because of its larger value as compared with that of JFET (or K ), it is enough to consider its effect in (13). The design
and CMOS op-amps, and because of its increased PSD at criterion we propose is to reduce the noise contributed by the
frequencies below f ci . A closer look at (7) shows the low- input network so that the rms input-referred noise voltage E ni
pass shape with cutoff frequency fc of et2Z 1 and ei2 , hence is just a small fraction α larger than the noise floor E ni,floor
increasingly lower f c values will effectively reduce their PSD.
The equivalent input noise rms power contributed by each E ni = (1 + α) E ni,floor . (15)
noise source is calculated by integrating their respective PSDs
Therefore, the total input-referred power noise will be
from f L to f H , which (from the appendix), respectively, yields
  2
E ni = (1 + α)2 E ni,floor
2
= E ni,floor
2
+ E ni,added
2
. (16)
fH
E n2 = en2 BW + f ce ln (8)
fL An ideal input network would not introduce any additional
 
2 π fc −1 f L noise (α = 0) but the transient response would be endless.
E t Z 1 ≈ 4kT Rs BW + 4kT R1 fc − − tan (9) A more realistic approach is to consider the maximum noise
2 fH fc
  accepted for the desired dynamic range, i.e., α might need
2 2 2 2 2 f ci f c2 to be small but not necessarily zero. Equation (13) can be
E i ≈ i n Rs BW + i n R1 ln 1+ 2
2 fL rewritten in terms of K as follows:

 
π fc −1 f L 2 2 f ci 1
+ fc − −tan (10) E ni,added ≈ i n R1
2
ln 1 + 2
2 fH fc 2 K
 π  f
− tan−1 K
L
where BW = f H − f L is assumed to be bounded by a later + 4kTR1 + i n2 R12 (17)
2 K
stage and the approximations in (9) and (10) hold whenever
fc  fs . where it has been assumed fc / f H ≈ 0 because f H  f L .
The equivalent input noise power is Equation (17) includes two terms that can be expanded to its
Taylor series and truncated to the first term for K > 2 with
2
E ni = E n2 + E t2Z 1 + E i2 = E ni,floor
2
+ E ni,added
2
. (11) an approximation error below 5%
 
Setting f c = 0 in (9) and (10) minimizes (11) and yields the 1 1
ln 1 + 2 ≈ 2 (18)
input noise floor K K
    π  1
fH 1
2
E ni,floor = en2 + 4kTRs + i n2 Rs2 BW + en2 f ce ln − tan−1 K ≈ 2. (19)
fL 2 K K
(12) Then, (17) can be rewritten as

 
which is the equivalent input noise power in the absence of 1 f ci 
the ac-coupling network, that is, for dc coupling. Hence, the
2
E ni,added ≈ 2 i n2 R12 + 4kTR1 + i n2 R12 f L
K 2
additional noise introduced by the ac-coupling network is 
 4 
= E 2
ni,added  (20)
f ci f c
2 πK 2 K =1
2
E ni,added ≈ i n2 R12 ln 1 + 2
2 fL and substituting (20) into (16), we obtain
  π fc fL
 
+ 4kTR1 +i n2 R12 − −tan−1 f c . (13) 4 
E 2
ni,added  + E ni,floor
2
≈ (1 + α)2 E ni,floor
2
. (21)
2 fH fc πK2 K =1
SERRANO-FINETTI AND PALLAS-ARENY: NOISE REDUCTION IN AC-COUPLED AMPLIFIERS
Finally, for α  1

2 
2 E ni,added 
K =1
α≈ . (22)
πK2 2
E ni,floor
This equation offers a simple quantitative criterion to
design K or to assess the highest noise reduction achievable
if K has a restrained maximum value, for example, because
of the allowable duration of the transient response.
For a given signal source (Rs or Cs ) and passband, op-amp
technology will determine the design of the input network:
bipolar op-amps simultaneously reduce E ni,floor and increase
E ni,added due to their higher i n ; hence, (22) yields a larger K
than that computed for FET amplifiers where E ni,floor is larger
due to its larger en as compared with that of bipolar op-amps
whereas E ni,added is smaller because of its much smaller i n .
If low noise is essential to the application, i.e., to achieve a
large dynamic range the chances are that bipolar technology
would fulfill this requirement, provided the value for R1 is not
so large that the op-amp would be driven into saturation, in
which case FET amplifiers would be the only option left.
III. N OISE R EDUCTION A SSESSMENT
To verify the criterion given in (22), a scenario of a resistive
signal source and two different op-amps was considered and a
test circuit was built as described in Sections III-A and III-B.
The impact of bandwidth for that same scenario was analyzed
by computer simulation, as described in Section III-C.
A. Test Scenario
We considered a dynamic signal whose bandwidth was from
f L = 10 Hz to f H = 1 kHz riding on a dc offset coming from
a resistive signal source with Rs = 1 k, which is a midrange
value for the equivalent output resistance in voltage dividers.
In addition, the ac-coupling network should not load the signal
amplitude by more than 0.1% to achieve about 10 bits of
resolution in the passband.
B. Experimental Setup
This scenario was tested with the setup shown in Fig. 3 with
amplifier gains G 1 = 200 and G 2 = 100, both obtained with
op-amps in noninverting topology and resistors smaller than
20 k so the dominant noise sources were those associated
to the ac-coupling network at the input of G 1 . The total
gain (20 000) was verified with a sinus voltage of appropriate
amplitude and programmable frequency. The second amplifier
stage was meant only to amplify noise, not because of the
signal gain requirements of the simulated scenario.
To simulate the resistive signal source, a (1/4) W 1-k
carbon resistor was used. Once the application parameters
have been defined, noise analysis predictions depend on
op-amp technology. Therefore, the ac-coupled amplifier G 1
was first implemented with a low-noise bipolar op-amp
(OP07C, Analog Devices Inc.) and then with a FET-input
op-amp (OPA602P, Texas Instruments Inc.). The noninvert-
ing topology ensured a high-enough input impedance for
both devices because of their very high common-mode input
1837
Fig. 3. Experimental setup to measure noise introduced by an input ac
network in front of a voltage amplifier.
impedances (160 G for the OP07C and 10 T||3 pF for
the OPA602P according to their respective datasheets). We
selected R1 = 1 M to limit the voltage loading effect to
√
less than 0.1%. The thermal noise of Rs is only 4 nV/ Hz,
hence it determines the input noise floor. For this application,
if an additional noise voltage of 10% of the noise floor is
accepted (α = 0.1), (16) predicts that f c ≈ f L /5 suffices for
the bipolar op-amp, whereas for the FET amplifier, f c ≈ f L /2
is enough. To confirm this, different K values were tested by
conveniently changing C1 .
Noise at the output of G 2 was measured with an
USB portable oscilloscope (HandyScope 4, TiePie Engineer-
ing, The Netherlands) and a battery-powered laptop with
custom data acquisition software. Recording time was 2.5 s
and sampling frequency was 20 kHz, which allowed for noise
PSD estimates from 0.2 Hz to 10 kHz [7]. Voltage resolution
was 12 bits for a full scale of ±200 mV (the portable
oscilloscope allowed 16-bit resolution using oversampling but
this modifies the original noise PSD). To ensure proper circuit
operation a warmup time of 30 min was allowed before starting
data acquisition. As the power line frequency fell inside the
frequency band of interest, a Faraday cage enclosing the
amplifiers and coaxial cable was used to attenuate power-line
interference below measurement resolution and the op-amps
were battery supplied. To minimize thermal drift, all discrete
components and ICs were covered with plastic foam.
For each K value selected, 100 consecutive noise measure-
ments with the amplifier input connected to circuit common
(signal ground) were recorded. The PSD was estimated by
first computing the fast Fourier transform power spectrum
of each measurement and later averaging all those power
spectra. Because we were interested in assessing the noise
PSD up to 1 kHz only, the estimated PSD was multiplied
by 10 to compensate for the attenuation due to oversampling
(at 10 kHz). The experimental equivalent input noise voltage
E ni was thus computed as the square root of the integral of
the PSD estimate in the signal bandwidth (10 Hz to 1 kHz).
All calculations were performed with MATLAB.
C. Noise Simulation
To assess the effect of signal pass-band on the predictions
from (8)–(13) and (22) were used to calculate the contribution
of each noise source and then K was calculated for two two-
decade bandwidths different from that experimentally tested
(10 Hz to 1 kHz): 1) 1–100 Hz and 2) 100 Hz–10 kHz.
The application parameters used here are the same as those
described in Sections III-A and III-B.
1838 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 63, NO. 7, JULY 2014

TABLE I
T HEORETICAL RMS N OISE V OLTAGES FOR THE N OISE F LOOR ( E ni,floor ),
THE T HERMAL N OISE ( E t Z1 ), AND THE C URRENT N OISE ( E i ) FOR THE
A MPLIFIER IN F IG . 1(a) W HEN I MPLEMENTED BY A B IPOLAR (OP07C)
OR A FET (OPA602P) O P -A MP AND D IFFERENT K VALUES W HEN
f L = 10 H Z AND f H = 1 kHz

TABLE II
T HEORETICAL ( E ni,th ) AND E XPERIMENTAL ( E ni,exp ) I NPUT-R EFERRED
RMS N OISE V OLTAGES FOR D IFFERENT K VALUES W HEN f L = 10 Hz
AND f H = 1 kHz

Fig. 4. Experimental noise PSDs computed from the noise measurements

show how an increase in K reduced noise for (a) OP07 and (b) OPA602.
TABLE III
I NPUT-R EFERRED N OISE F LOOR ( E ni,floor ) AND A DDITIONAL N OISE
D. Results ( E ni,added ) B ECAUSE OF THE AC -C OUPLING N ETWORK IN F IG . 1(a)
Fig. 4(a) and (b) shows the influence of an increasing K W HEN K IS D ESIGNED TO L IMIT E ni TO 1.1 T IMES THE N OISE
on the computed noise PSD for op-amps OP07 and OPA602. F LOOR , FOR T WO D IFFERENT T WO -D ECADE
In particular, Fig. 4(b) shows a larger en (Z 1 = 0) for OPA602 S IGNAL BANDWIDTHS
as compared with OP07.
Table I shows calculated values for the different sources that
contribute to the input-referred rms noise voltage for different
K values and the two op-amps considered. Table II shows the
theoretical and experimental values for the total input-referred
rms noise as computed from the experimental PSDs for each
op-amp and different K values. Finally, Table III shows the
effect of signal bandwidth on the K value required to limit the
additional noise voltage introduced by the ac-coupling network
to 10% of the noise floor.
IV. D ISCUSSION bandwidth. The added noise is maximum when K = 1, as
Calculated noise voltages in Table I and the experimental predicted. Nevertheless, it is right to design fc < f L (K > 1)
results in Table II show that Z 1 noticeably adds noise in the to reduce that added noise because the essential function of
signal passband for bipolar and FET op-amps as compared ac coupling is to reject offset voltage not to shape signal
with the noise in dc-coupled amplifier (noise floor). This is bandwidth. If K is increased the rolloff of Re Z 1 and |Z 1 |2
because the weighing functions for the thermal noise of Z 1 begin at a lower frequency, as shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b), hence
(et2Z 1) and the noise contribution from i n (ei2 ), respectively, their related noise contributions are progressively reduced in
depend on Re Z 1 and |Z 1 |2 , both of which have a low- the signal passband (10 Hz to 1 kHz in our example) and
pass frequency response with the same cutoff frequency as converging to E ni,floor , as predicted by the theoretical analysis
the signal transfer function and that rolls off into the signal (Table I) and experimentally verified (Table II). This solution
SERRANO-FINETTI AND PALLAS-ARENY: NOISE REDUCTION IN AC-COUPLED AMPLIFIERS
might seem a paradox because a lower f c means a wider signal
bandwidth hence more noise will be led into the amplifier.
However, this would be true only if signal and noise would see
the same bandwidth, as is the case for noise sources in series
with the signal [8], but noise contributed by R1 (thermal noise
and noise voltage from i n ) observe a transfer function different
from that for the signal as has been observed in other signal
processing circuits [9]. On the other hand, system bandwidth
can be tailored to signal bandwidth in a later stage in the
signal chain, hence the effect of any other series noise sources
coming from the signal source (not considered in our analysis)
will be later reduced.
Tables I and II also show that (22) is a simple and valuable
quantitative criterion to reduce noise without an excessively
long transient response. Our analysis predicted that α = 0.1
will be achieved with K = 5 for the bipolar op-amp and
K = 2 for the FET op-amp. Table I shows that the noise
floor of the bipolar op-amp is 330 nV, well below the 508 nV
of the FET op-amp, but the K value to achieve it implies
a transient response 2.5 times longer than that of the FET
op-amp. From (20), noise added by the input network is
weighed by 1/K 2 ; hence, in Table I, even a relatively
small K (but larger than one) is enough to reduce E i from
600 to 140 nV and E t Z 1 from 357 to 80 nV for the bipolar
op-amp (with K = 5). The FET-input op-amp has so a small
noise current that the only contributing additional noise is the
thermal noise from R1 , but its noise floor is larger because of
its higher en . Therefore, although a relatively large R1 could
have suggested the selection of an op-amp with low input noise
current (a FET-input op-amp), by designing a low enough f c , a
low-voltage-noise (bipolar) op-amp contributes less additional
noise.
Signals with resistive output impedance require two
other factors to be considered: 1) signal bandwidth and
2) internal source resistance. First, Table III shows that band-
width strongly affects K : a lower signal passband (1–100 Hz)
means a lower noise floor for the bipolar op-amp (110 nV)
than for the FET-input op-amp (340 nV) but also more noise
contribution from the input network, especially from E i , which
exhibits a f ci value well inside the passband; hence, K needs to
be larger (12.4) for the bipolar op-amp whereas the FET-input
op-amp does not yield additional noise for K = 1. However, a
higher passband increases the noise floor for both op-amps to
comparable values, hence a lower K is enough in both cases.
The design criterion to consider with respect to the internal
source resistance Rs is the same used for dc-coupled low-noise
amplifiers [1], [2], [10]: when Rs is small the best choice
is an amplifier with small noise voltage, whereas for voltage
sources with large Rs , amplifiers with small noise current may
be better. Therefore, to design a low-noise ac-coupled amplifier
intended to block offset voltage, we can first assess the noise
floor and then calculate a suitable K value to yield a tolerable
additional noise contributed by the input network.
Capacitive signal sources lack a series source resistance Rs ,
hence the noise floor will only depend on en . On the other
hand, the size of the output capacitance and the signal
passband might determine the need for a very large R1 .
For example, piezoelectric sensors used in structural vibration
1839
measurements usually exhibit capacitances in the nanofarad
range thus the minimum R1 needed to set f L in the hertz
range and to avoid signal loading might be large, usually
in the tens of megaohm range [11]. Very low frequency
applications, such as physiological monitoring ( f L = 0.5 Hz)
with capacitive electrodes (Cs is in the tens of picofarads) [4],
will ask for a very large R1 (and an amplifier with a very
low input capacitance). Therefore, proper biasing of a bipolar
input amplifier might not be guaranteed due to their high input
bias currents, leaving FET amplifiers as the only option left.
Were the requirements of voltage loading not so demanding,
for example, a higher f L as in rotor vibration measurements,
bipolar op-amps would offer the lowest possible noise.
An alternative design approach for ac-coupling could be
not to place the ac-coupling network between the sensor and
the amplifier but to use a voltage buffer followed by a high-
pass RC filter. Then smaller resistors could be used for the
high-pass filter, thus eliminating the current and thermal noise
problems analyzed before. Nevertheless, on the one hand, this
solution cannot be applied to capacitance output sensors due to
bias requirements and, on the other hand, the √ noise voltage
floor due to en will be increased by a factor of 2, not to men-
tion the increased power consumption because of the buffer.
Previous works [4] and [12] have described the strong
impact of both f c and i n on E ni when capacitive sensors are
used that ask for bias resistors on the order of hundreds of
gigaohms to tens of teraohms. Results in Table I–III, obtained
for R1 = 1 M, show that a high R1 does not necessarily
imply high noise because lowering f c effectively reduces
noise. This beneficial effect was empirically found in [13]
where the high-pass filter was placed at an intermediary stage
of the whole amplifier, not at its input, and f c was tuned using
a MOSFET voltage divider, which was believed to introduce
additional 1/ f noise when it was polarized to increase f c .
AC-coupled preamplifiers based on discrete transistors like
those in [14] and [15] can also benefit of the design rule here
proposed.
The noise analysis performed is bounded to scenarios where
baseband signals ( f L  f H ) need to be amplified and their
offset suppressed. Narrowband signals, such as those obtained
from ac modulating sensors need to be demodulated, usually
after bandpass filtering. In that case, noise will depend on the
demodulation technique [16], [17] and reducing fc may not
necessarily reduce the overall noise.
V. C ONCLUSION
Current and thermal noise in ac-coupled amplifiers can
be greatly reduced if the cutoff frequency f c of the input
network is designed to be smaller than the signal’s lowest
frequency component according to (22), regardless the op-amp
technology used. The necessary decrease in fc to achieve
noise close to that in dc-coupling will depend on application
parameters, such as the acceptable noise floor, dynamic range
(number of bits), signal bandwidth ( f L to f H ), and also on
the op-amp’s noise current and voltage sources. Noise can
be reduced whenever the signal bandwidth is limited by
posterior signal processing stages. The cost is a longer
transient response.
1840 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 63, NO. 7, JULY 2014

Resistive sensors that are placed in a voltage divider form 2 will be

The total input-referred noise PSD eni
signal sources whose equivalent internal impedance is a 2
eni ( f ) = et2z1 + en2 + ei2
resistance and allow to separately design the input impedance  
and the cutoff frequency f c by respectively choosing the f ce
= et z1 ( f ) + en 1 +
2 2
appropriate R1 and C1 values. Bipolar op-amps will be pre- f
 
ferred provided R1 allows their proper biasing. However, for f ci
+ i n2 1 + |Z 1 ( f )|2 . (A.6)
sensors whose equivalent internal impedance is a capacitance, f
the bias resistor required at the amplifier input determines both Integrating (A.3) to (A.5) from f L to f H yields the respec-
the input resistance of the amplifier and the cutoff frequency tive noise power contributions in the signal bandwidth
of the high-pass filter formed. If the capacitance is too small  
fc fc
or if the application is demanding in terms of minimal signal E t2z1 = 4kTR1 BW + f c 1 −
loading effects, the resistor value that determines a cutoff fs fs
 
frequency much smaller than the minimal frequency of interest f fL
× tan−1 − tan−1
H
(A.7)
of the sensor signal may be too large for a bipolar op-amp to fc fc
2  
properly bias its input stage. Then, FET or CMOS op-amps f f2
are the only option left and the cost is an increased noise floor. E i2 = i n2 R12 c2 BW + f c 1 − c2
fs fs
Therefore, the quantitative design criteria derived are:  
−1 f H −1 f L
1) select the R1 value required to prevent voltage loading × tan − tan
fc fc
effects above the required resolution; 2) if proper biasing is   
possible, choose a bipolar op amp, compute the noise floor 2 f 2 + f2
f c
and the necessary K , which will be obtained by selecting the + i n2 R12 1 − c2 f ci ln L
fs f H2 + f c2
appropriate C1 to achieve f c = f L /K ; and 3) if biasing is  

not possible, select a FET or CMOS op-amp, compute K and fH

+ f ci ln (A.8)
select R1 to achieve f c = f L /K . fL
 
2 2 fH
E n = en BW + f ce ln . (A.9)
A PPENDIX fL
.
The ac-coupling network modifies the source impedance Further simplifications can be made by recalling that:
observed by amplifier input currents to Z 1 fc Rs
1) = << 1 to avoid voltage loading effects;
(1 + j ω Rs C1 ) fs R1
Z 1 = R1 2) f c << f L << f H yields
1 + j ω (R1 + Rs ) C1
   fH fL BW
1 + j f fs tan−1 − tan−1 ≈ fc
(1 + j ω Rs C1 ) fc fc fL fH
≈ R1 = R1  (A.1)
1 + j ω R1 C 1 1 + j f fc and
  
whose modulus is f H f L2 + f c2 f c2
ln ≈ ln 1+ 2 .
   2 f L f H2 + f c2 fL
1 + f fs
|Z 1 | ≈ R1  Thus, (A.7) and (A.8) can be, respectively, rewritten as
  2 , (A.2)
 
1 + f fc 2 π fc −1 f L
E t z1 ≈ 4kTRs BW + 4kTR1 f c − − tan
2 fH fc
where f c and f s are defined as in (2). The thermal noise (A.10)
voltage of Z 1 will be
 and
1 + f 2 ( fc fs )
et z1 = 4kTRe (Z 1 ) = 4kTR1
2
  2 . (A.3) E i2 ≈ i n2 Rs2 BW
 
1 + f fc fci f c2
+i n2 R12 ln 1 +
The squared modulus of this same impedance Z 1 weighs 2 f L2
the noise current source to yield  

π fc fL
    2 + fc − − tan−1 (A.11)
f ci 1 + f f s 2 fH fc
ei = i n R 1 1 +
2 2 2
  2 . (A.4)
f 1 + f fc which are (9) and (10) in the main text.

The amplifier input noise voltage en ( f ) is not weighed by ACKNOWLEDGMENT

any transfer function and its PSD is The authors would like to thank the Castelldefels
  School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering
f ce (EETAC-UPC) for its research facilities, Dr. O. Casas for his
en2 ( f ) = en2 1 + . (A.5)
f comments, and F. López for his technical support.
SERRANO-FINETTI AND PALLAS-ARENY: NOISE REDUCTION IN AC-COUPLED AMPLIFIERS
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1841
Ernesto Serrano-Finetti (M’10) was born in Lima,
Peru, in 1972. He received the Ingeniero en Elec-
trónica degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica
del Perú, Lima, in 1998, and the Ph.D. degree in
biomedical engineering from Universitat Politècnica
de Catalunya—Barcelona Tech (UPC), Barcelona,
Spain, in 2003.
He has been an Assistant Professor with UPC since
2002, where he teaches courses in electronic systems
and instrumentation. His current research interests
include low-power analog design for autonomous
sensors, sensor interfaces, sensors based on electrical impedance measure-
ments, and noninvasive physiological sensors and measurements.
Ramon Pallas-Areny (M’81–SM’88–F’98) received the Ingeniero Indus-
trial and Doctor Ingeniero Industrial degrees from Universitat Politècnica
de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech (UPC), Barcelona, Spain, in 1975 and 1982,
respectively.
He is a Professor of electronic engineering with UPC, and teaches courses
in electronic instrumentation. In 1989 and 1990, he was a Visiting Fulbright
Scholar, and in 1997 and 1998, he was an Honorary Fellow with the University
of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA. He is the author of six books, the leading
author of five books, and co-author of three books on instrumentation in
Spanish and Catalan. He is the co-author of Sensors and Signal Conditioning
(Wiley, 2001) and Analog Signal Processing (Wiley, 1999) with J. G. Webster,
Direct Sensor-to-Microcontroller Interface Circuits (Marcombo, 2005) with
F. Reverter, and Microcontrollers: Fundamentals and Applications with PIC
(CRC Press, 2009) with F. Valdés-Pérez. His current research interests include
instrumentation methods and sensors based on electrical impedance measure-
ments, autonomous sensors, sensor interfaces, and noninvasive physiological
measurements.
Dr. Pallas-Areny was a recipient of the 1991 Andrew R. Chi Prize Paper
Award from the Instrumentation and Measurement Society with J. G. Webster.
In 2001, he was nominated Professor Honoris Causa from the Faculty
of Electrical Engineering of the University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He
received the Award for Quality in Teaching Granted from the Board of
Trustees of the UPC in 2000 and the Narcís Monturiol Medal from the
Autonomous Government of Catalonia in 2002.