A Survey of Non-conventional Techniques for Low-voltage Low-power Analog Circuit Design

Designing integrated circuits able to work under low-voltage (LV) low-power (LP) condition is currently undergoing a very considerable boom. Reducing voltage supply and power consumption of integrated circuits is crucial factor since in general it ensures the device reliability, prevents overheating of the circuits and in particular prolongs the operation period for battery powered devices. Recently, non-conventional techniques i.e. bulk-driven (BD), floating-gate (FG) and quasi-floating-gate (QFG) techniques have been proposed as powerful ways to reduce the design complexity and push the voltage supply towards threshold voltage of the MOS transistors (MOST). Therefore, this paper presents the operation principle, the advantages and disadvantages of each of these techniques, enabling circuit designers to choose the proper design technique based on application requirements. As an example of application three operational transconductance amplifiers (OTA) base on these non-conventional techniques are presented, the voltage supply is only ±0.4 V and the power consumption is 23.5 µW. PSpice simulation results using the 0.18 µm CMOS technology from TSMC are included to verify the design functionality and correspondence with theory

Novel active function blocks and their applications in frequency filters and quadrature oscillators

Kmitočtové filtry a sinusoidní oscilátory jsou lineární elektronické obvody, které jsou používány v široké oblasti elektroniky a jsou základními stavebními bloky v analogovém zpracování signálu. V poslední dekádě pro tento účel bylo prezentováno velké množství stavebních funkčních bloků. V letech 2000 a 2006 na Ústavu telekomunikací, VUT v Brně byly definovány univerzální proudový konvejor (UCC) a univerzální napět'ový konvejor (UVC) a vyrobeny ve spolupráci s firmou AMI Semiconductor Czech, Ltd. Ovšem, stále existuje požadavek na vývoj nových aktivních prvků, které nabízejí nové výhody. Hlavní přínos práce proto spočívá v definici dalších původních aktivních stavebních bloků jako jsou differential-input buffered and transconductance amplifier (DBTA), current follower transconductance amplifier (CFTA), z-copy current-controlled current inverting transconductance amplifier (ZC-CCCITA), generalized current follower differential input transconductance amplifier (GCFDITA), voltage gain-controlled modified current-feedback operational amplifier (VGC-MCFOA), a minus-type current-controlled third-generation voltage conveyor (CC-VCIII-). Pomocí navržených aktivních stavebních bloků byly prezentovány původní zapojení fázovacích článků prvního řádu, univerzální filtry druhého řádu, ekvivalenty obvodu typu KHN, inverzní filtry, aktivní simulátory uzemněného induktoru a kvadraturní sinusoidní oscilátory pracující v proudovém, napět'ovém a smíšeném módu. Chování navržených obvodů byla ověřena simulací v prostředí SPICE a ve vybraných případech experimentálním měřením.Frequency filters and sinusoidal oscillators are linear electric circuits that are used in wide area of electronics and also are the basic building blocks in analogue signal processing. In the last decade, huge number of active building blocks (ABBs) were presented for this purpose. In 2000 and 2006, the universal current conveyor (UCC) and the universal voltage conveyor (UVC), respectively, were designed at the Department of Telecommunication, BUT, Brno, and produced in cooperation with AMI Semiconductor Czech, Ltd. There is still the need to develop new active elements that offer new advantages. The main contribution of this thesis is, therefore, the definition of other novel ABBs such as the differential-input buffered and transconductance amplifier (DBTA), the current follower transconductance amplifier (CFTA), the z-copy current-controlled current inverting transconductance amplifier (ZC-CCCITA), the generalized current follower differential input transconductance amplifier (GCFDITA), the voltage gain-controlled modified current-feedback operational amplifier (VGC-MCFOA), and the minus-type current-controlled third-generation voltage conveyor (CC-VCIII-). Using the proposed ABBs, novel structures of first-order all-pass filters, second-order universal filters, KHN-equivalent circuits, inverse filters, active grounded inductance simulators, and quadrature sinusoidal oscillators working in the current-, voltage-, or mixed-mode are presented. The behavior of the proposed circuits has been verified by SPICE simulations and in selected cases also by experimental measurements.

Low-Voltage High-Linearity Wideband Current Differencing Transconductance Amplifier and Its Application on Current-Mode Active Filter

A low-voltage high-linearity wideband current differencing transconductance amplifier (CDTA) is presented in this paper. The CDTA consists of a current differencing circuit and a cross-coupling transconductance circuit. The PSPICE simulations of the proposed CDTA show a good performance: -3dB frequency bandwith is about 900 MHz, low power consumption is 2.48 mW, input current linear range is ±100 µA and low current-input resistance is less than 20 Ω, high current-output resistance is more than 3 MΩ. PSpice simulations for a current-mode universal filter and a proposed high-order filter are also conducted, and the results verify the validity of the proposed CDTA

A wideband linear tunable CDTA and its application in field programmable analogue array

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Hu, Z., Wang, C., Sun, J. et al. ‘A wideband linear tunable CDTA and its application in field programmable analogue array’, Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing, Vol. 88 (3): 465-483, September 2016. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 6 June 2017. The final publication is available at Springer via https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10470-016-0772-7 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016In this paper, a NMOS-based wideband low power and linear tunable transconductance current differencing transconductance amplifier (CDTA) is presented. Based on the NMOS CDTA, a novel simple and easily reconfigurable configurable analogue block (CAB) is designed. Moreover, using the novel CAB, a simple and versatile butterfly-shaped FPAA structure is introduced. The FPAA consists of six identical CABs, and it could realize six order current-mode low pass filter, second order current-mode universal filter, current-mode quadrature oscillator, current-mode multi-phase oscillator and current-mode multiplier for analog signal processing. The Cadence IC Design Tools 5.1.41 post-layout simulation and measurement results are included to confirm the theory.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Current and Voltage Mode Multiphase Sinusoidal Oscillators Using CBTAs

Current-mode (CM) and voltage-mode (VM) multiphase sinusoidal oscillator (MSO) structures using current backward transconductance amplifier (CBTA) are proposed. The proposed oscillators can generate n current or voltage signals (n being even or odd) equally spaced in phase. n+1 CBTAs, n grounded capacitors and a grounded resistor are used for nth-state oscillator. The oscillation frequency can be independently controlled through transconductance (gm) of the CBTAs which are adjustable via their bias currents. The effects caused by the non-ideality of the CBTA on the oscillation frequency and condition have been analyzed. The performance of the proposed circuits is demonstrated on third-stage and fifth-stage MSOs by using PSPICE simulations based on the 0.25 µm TSMC level-7 CMOS technology parameters

CMOS OTA-C high-frequency sinusoidal oscillators

Several topology families are given to implement practical CMOS sinusoidal oscillators by using operational transconductance amplifier-capacitor (OTA-C) techniques. Design techniques are proposed taking into account the CMOS OTA's dominant nonidealities. Building blocks are presented for amplitude control, both by automatic gain control (AGC) schemes and by limitation schemes. Experimental results from 3- and 2- mu m CMOS (MOSIS) prototypes that exhibit oscillation frequencies of up to 69 MHz are obtained. The amplitudes can be adjusted between 1 V peak to peak and 100 mV peak to peak. Total harmonic distortions from 2.8% down to 0.2% have been measured experimentally.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología ME87-000

Low-Voltage Ultra-Low-Power Current Conveyor Based on Quasi-Floating Gate Transistors

The field of low-voltage low-power CMOS technology has grown rapidly in recent years; it is an essential prerequisite particularly for portable electronic equipment and implantable medical devices due to its influence on battery lifetime. Recently, significant improvements in implementing circuits working in the low-voltage low-power area have been achieved, but circuit designers face severe challenges when trying to improve or even maintain the circuit performance with reduced supply voltage. In this paper, a low-voltage ultra-low-power current conveyor second generation CCII based on quasi-floating gate transistors is presented. The proposed circuit operates at a very low supply voltage of only ±0.4 V with rail-to-rail voltage swing capability and a total quiescent power consumption of mere 9.5 µW. Further, the proposed circuit is not only able to process the AC signal as it's usual at quasi-floating gate transistors but also the DC which extends the applicability of the proposed circuit. In conclusion, an application example of the current-mode quadrature oscillator is presented. PSpice simulation results using the 0.18 µm TSMC CMOS technology are included to confirm the attractive properties of the proposed circuit

New CMOS Realization of Voltage Differencing Buffered Amplifier and Its Biquad Filter Applications

In this paper, new biquad filter configuration using a recently introduced active element, namely Voltage Differencing Buffered Amplifier (VDBA), is proposed. This block has high impedance input terminals and low impedance output terminal, providing advantages at voltage mode circuits. Besides, VDBA has a transconductance gain, thus the proposed circuits can be employed without using any external resistors. Two new voltage-mode biquad filter configurations are presented for VDBA application. Each proposed filter employs two active elements and two or three passive components. Filters, having three inputs and single output, can realize voltage-mode low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, band-stop, and all-pass filters. The biquad filters have low output impedances that is necessity for cascadability for voltage mode circuits, and no critical component matching conditions are required. For the second biquad, quality factor can be adjusted via resistor independently of the natural frequency. Simulation results are given to, confirming the theoretical analysis. The proposed biquad filters are simulated using TSMC CMOS 0.35 µm technology. LTSPICE simulations of the proposed circuits give results that agree well with the theoretical analysis

Transconductor and integrator circuits for integrated bipolar video frequency filters

A description is presented of novel transconductor and integrator circuits which can be used in integrated video frequency filters in bipolar technology. The transconductor consists of a parallel connection of a passive nominal transconductance and an active variable transconductance, resulting in good high-frequency performance up to 70 MHz and less than 1% linearity error for input signals up to 2V pp. The integrator incorporates an operation transconductance amplifier circuit which provides a tunable integrator phase. Simulation results for all circuits and for a fifth-order elliptic low-pass filter with a nominal cutoff frequency of 5 MHz are presente