Monolithic voltage conversion in low-voltage CMOS technologies

A high-to-low switching DC-DC converter that operates at input voltages up to two times as high as the maximum voltage permitted in a low-voltage CMOS technology is proposed in this paper. The proposed circuit technique is based on a cascode bridge that maintains the steady-state voltage differences among the terminals of all of the transistors within a range imposed by a specific low-voltage CMOS technology. An efficiency of 87.8% is achieved for 3.6-0.9 V conversion assuming a 0.18 μm CMOS technology. The DC-DC converter operates at a switching frequency of 97 MHz while supplying a DC current of 250 mA to the load.     

A systematic design approach for low-power 10-bit 100 MS/s pipelined ADC

A systematic design approach for low-power 10-bit, 100 MS/s pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is presented. At architectural level various per-stage-resolution are analyzed and most suitable architecture is selected for designing 10-bit, 100 MS/s pipeline ADC. At Circuit level a modified wide-bandwidth and high-gain two-stage operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) proposed in this work is used in track-and-hold amplifier (THA) and multiplying digital-to-analog converter (MDAC) sections, to reduce power consumption and thermal noise contribution by the ADC. The signal swing of the analog functional blocks (THA and MDAC sections) is allowed to exceed the supply voltage (1.8 V), which further increases the dynamic range of the circuit. Charge-sharing comparator is proposed in this work, which reduces the dynamic power dissipation and kickback noise of the comparator circuit. The bootstrap technique and bottom plate sampling technique is employed in THA and MDAC sections to reduce the nonlinearity error associated with the input signal resulting in a signal-to-noise-distortion ratio of 58.72/57.57 dB at 2 MHz/Nyquist frequency, respectively. The maximum differential nonlinearity (DNL) is +0.6167/−0.3151 LSB and the maximum integral nonlinearity (INL) is +0.4271/−0.4712 LSB. The dynamic range of the ADC is 58.72 dB for full-scale input signal at 2 MHz input frequency. The ADC consumes 52.6 mW at 100 MS/s sampling rate. The circuit is implemented using UMC-180 nm digital CMOS technology.     

A feedback loop regulated bootstrap driver circuit with improved drive capability for high voltage buck DC–DC converter

A novel bootstrap driver circuit applied to high voltage buck DC–DC converter is proposed. The gate driver voltage of the high side switch is regulated by a feedback loop to obtain accurate and stable bootstrapped voltage. The charging current of bootstrap capacitor is provided by the input power of the DC–DC converter directly instead of internal low voltage power source, so larger driver capability of the proposed circuit can be achieved. The bootstrap driver circuit starts to charge the bootstrap capacitor before the switch node SW drop to zero voltage at high-side switch off-time. Thus inadequate bootstrap voltage is avoided. The proposed circuit has been implemented in a high voltage buck DC–DC converter with 0.6 µm 40 V CDMOS process. The experimental results show that the bootstrap driver circuit provides 5 V stable bootstrap voltage with higher drive capability to drive high side switch. The proposed circuit is suitable for high voltage, large current buck DC–DC converter.     

A dynamically reconfigurable NRTI switched-capacitor-based hybrid DC-DC converter suitable for embedded applications

In this paper, a dynamically reconfigurable, Non-overlap Rotational Time Interleaved (NRTI) switched capacitor (S-C) DC-DC converter is presented. Its S-C module is reconfigurable to generate three different fractions (viz., 1/3, 1/2 and 2/3) of its input supply (Vdd). This maintains good power efficiency while its output voltage gets adjusted over a large range. In addition, a load-current-sensing circuit is integrated within it to dynamically reconfigure the S-C module based on the required driving capability. This feature enables to extend load current range to higher limit and at the same time improves the power efficiency in low load current regime. The S-C module is integrated with a current control loop for load and line regulation.The proposed architecture is simulated in a 0.18 μm CMOS process using dual oxide transistors to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed topology. The input supply voltage is 3.3 V and the regulated output range is 0.8-1.6 V. Total flying capacitance is 330 pF and the load capacitor value is 50 pF. For an output of 1.35 V, its power efficiency is maintained above 50% over a load current range of 4 -17.6 mA with a peak of 66% at 9 mA. Throughout this current range the output voltage ripple remains within 12 mV.     

一种高稳定性的振荡电路

文中设计了一种高稳定性的振荡电路,其主要由电流模带隙基准,电压比较器和电容充放电电路构成。带隙基准产生三组基准电压,一组用于生成振荡电路中电容的充电电流,一组作为比较器的判决门限,另一组用于产生振荡部分的工作电压。电压比较器门限和充电电流的大小控制振荡电路的振荡频率。整个电路采用SMIC 0.18μm CMOS工艺实现。通过Hspice仿真,在-20℃~70℃、1.8V~3.8V工作范围内振荡精度在1%左右。     

Design of a three-stage ring-type voltage-controlled oscillator with a wide tuning range by controlling the current level in an embedded delay cell

This paper presents a new design for a three-stage voltage-controlled differential ring oscillator embedded with a delay cell for a wide tuning range from 59 MHz to 2.96 GHz by adjusting the current level in the delay cell. The ring oscillator consists of a voltage-to-current converter, coder circuit, three-stage ring with delay cells, and current monitoring circuit to extend the tuning range of the proposed voltage-controlled oscillator. Each functional block has been designed for a minimum power consumption using the TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS technology. We simulate the performances of the proposed voltage-controlled oscillator in terms of phase noise, power consumption, tuning range, and gain. Our simulation results show that the proposed oscillator has the linear frequency–voltage characteristics over a wide tuning range. At each tuning range (mode), the calculated phase noise of the proposed ring oscillator at each tuning range (mode) was −87, −85, −81, and −79 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz offset from the center frequency. The DC power of the proposed voltage-controlled oscillator consumed 0.86–3 mW under a 1.8 V supply voltage.     

High efficiency boost converter with variable output voltage using a self-reference comparator

This paper presents a boost converter with variable output voltage and a new maximum power point tracking (MPPT) scheme for biomedical applications. The variable output voltage feature facilitates its usage in a wide range of applications. This is achieved by means of a new low-power self-reference comparator. A new modified MPPT scheme is proposed which improves the efficiency by 10%. Also, to further increase the efficiency, a level converter circuit is used to lower the V_dd of the digital section. The low input voltage requirements allow operation from a thermoelectric generator powered by body heat. Using this approach, a thermoelectric energy harvesting circuit has been designed in a 180 nm CMOS technology. According to HSPICE Simulation results, the circuit operates from input voltages as low as 40 mV and generates output voltages ranging from 1 to 3 V. A maximum power of 138 μW can be obtained from the output of the boost converter which means that the maximum end-to-end efficiency is 52%.     

一种中速高精度模拟电压比较器的设计

设计一种中速高精度模拟电压比较器,该比较器采用3级前置放大器加锁存器和数字触发电路的多级结构,应用失调校准技术消除失调,应用共源共栅结构抑制回程噪声干扰;应用数字触发电路获得高性能数字输出信号,设计采用0．35μm5VCMOS工艺实现一个输入电压2．5V、速度1MS／s、精度12位的逐次逼近型MD转换器。Hspice仿真结果表明：在5V供电电压下,速度可达20MHz,准确比较0．2mV电压,有效校准20mV输入失调,功耗约1mW。     

High-speed continuous-time band pass ΔΣ modulator for class-S systems

A fully integrated continuous-time bandpass delta-sigma modulator (BPDSM) fabricated in a 0.25 μm SiGe BiCMOS is presented. It consists of a two-stage second-order resonator, high-speed comparator, multi-feedback current digital-to-analog converter, and an output buffer. The input frequency can be tuned from 3.55 to 3.9 GHz at a 9.5 GHz fixed sampling clock frequency. This modulator dissipates 109 mA from a 3.3 V power supply. The peak signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the sine-wave input is 37.3 dB in a 20 MHz channel bandwidth, and the error vector magnitude (EVM) of a 64QAM long-term evolution (LTE) downlink signal is 5.94% with a 10.5 dB peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR).     

1-V 9-bit pipelined switched-opamp ADC

A 9-bit 1.0-V pipelined analog-to-digital converter has been designed using the switched-opamp technique. The developed low-voltage circuit blocks are a multiplying analog-to-digital converter (MADC), an improved common-mode feedback circuit for a switched opamp, and a fully differential comparator. The input signal for the converter is brought in using a novel passive interface circuit. The prototype chip, implemented in a 0.5-μm CMOS technology, has differential nonlinearity and integral nonlinearity of 0.6 and 0.9 LSB, respectively, and achieves 50.0-dB SNDR at 5-MHz clock rate. As the supply voltage is raised to 1.5 V, the clock frequency can be increased to 14 MHz. The power consumption from a 1.0-V supply is 1.6 mW     

Clock buffer with duty cycle corrector

A clock buffer with duty cycle corrector circuit is presented. The proposed circuit can generate either 50% duty cycle or conserve the duty cycle as input clock. It corrects the input duty cycle of 10-90% for generated 50% duty cycle of output clock with error less than 0.9%. Moreover, it enhances the input clock signal driving ability and keeps the same duty cycle as input clock within range from 20% to 80% with a maximum duty error of 0.5%. The proposed circuit operation frequency range is from 100 MHz to 1 GHz. The proposed circuit has been fabricated in a 0.18 μm CMOS technology.     

一种单片低功耗电荷泵电源管理电路的设计

基于0.6 μm BiCMOS工艺,设计了一款高精度电荷泵电源管理芯片.该芯片利用2倍压电荷泵电源转换原理,芯片内部集成了具有优异频率响应的振荡器电容,施密特触发器提供内部精准频率,PFM调制提供稳定的输出电压.测试结果表明,芯片输入电压范围为2.7～5.5V,输出电压为5V,电压纹波小于20 mV,内部振荡频率为700 kHz,低功耗模式时电流仅为6.73 μA.     

A cross coupled low phase noise oscillator using an output swing enhancement technique

A new voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) in a 0.18 μm CMOS process is offered in this paper. This paper?s argument is to provide an innovative approach to improve the phase noise which is one of the most controversial issues in VCOs. Contrary to most ideas that have been put forward to decrease phase noise which are based on higher current dissipation to increase output voltage swing, this new method offers better specifications with respect to traditional solutions. The presented circuit is capable of extra oscillation amplitude without increasing the current level, taking advantages of tail current elimination and topology optimization. Analysis of the presented peak voltage amplitude can verify the optimum performance of the proposed. Post-layout simulation results at 2.3 GHz with an offset frequency of 1 MHz and 3 MHz show a phase noise of about −125 dBc/Hz and −136.5 dBc/Hz, respectively, with the current of 1.3 mA from 1.8 V supply. Also, Monte Carlo simulation is used to ensure the sensitivity of the proposed circuit to process and frequency variations are very promising.     

Low-voltage, high-speed CMOS analog latched voltage comparator using the “flipped voltage follower” as input stage

The design and characterization of a low-voltage, high-speed CMOS analog latched voltage comparator based on the flipped voltage follower (FVF) cell and input signal regeneration is presented. The proposed circuit consists of a differential input stage with a common-mode signal detector, followed by a regenerative latch and a Set-Reset (S-R) latch. It is suitable for successive-approximation type’s analog-to-digital converters (ADC), but can also be adapted for use in flash-type ADCs. The circuit was fabricated using 0.18 μm CMOS technology, and its measured performance shows 12-bit resolution at 20 MHz comparison rate and 1 V single supply voltage, with a total power consumption of 63.5 μW.     

单片集成直流-直流转换器的效率提高方法

采用SMIC 0.13μm CMOS工艺,设计实现了开关频率达到250 MHz,单片集成的降压型电源转换器。为了提高电源转换效率,该转换器中的片上电感采用非对称性设计方法,提高了电感的品质因数。采用了高密度片上滤波电容来稳定输出电压,同时对单位电容尺寸的优化设计减小了电容的等效串联电阻以及输出电压纹波。测试结果表明,芯片输入电压为3.3 V,当输出2.5 V电压时,峰值效率达到了80%,最大输出电流达到270 mA;当输出1.8 V电压时,峰值效率达到了70%,最大输出电流达到400 mA。     

Frequency tunable low ripple and fast response on-chip DC–DC converter for DVFS

Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) is an efficient method to reduce the power consumption in system on-chip. To support DVFS, multiple supply voltages are generated based on different work load frequencies and currents using on-chip DC–DC voltage converter. In this paper a frequency tunable multiple output voltage switched capacitor based dc–dc converter is presented. An analog to digital converter and phase controller is used in the feedback to change the switching frequency and duty cycle of the converter. An input voltage of 1.8 V is converted to 0.6 and 0.8 V for low and high signal frequency respectively. The proposed 2-phase switched capacitor architecture with gain setting of 1:2 is designed with the 90 nm technology. An output ripple of 45 mV is observed and the maximum transient response time of the converter is 17.3 ns (= 58 MHz).     

基于0.35 μm GeSi-BiCMOS工艺的1 GSPS采样保持电路

介绍了一种基于0.35μmGeSi-BiCMOS工艺的1GSPS采样/保持电路。该电路采用全差分开环结构,使用局部反馈提高开环缓冲放大器的线性度;采用增益、失调数字校正电路补偿高频输入信号衰减和工艺匹配误差造成的失调。在1GS/s采样率、484.375MHz输入信号频率、3.3V电源电压下进行仿真。结果显示,电路的SFDR达到75.6dB,THD为-74.9dB,功耗87mW。将该采样/保持电路用于一个8位1GSPSA/D转换器。流片测试结果表明,在1GSPS采样率,240.123MHz和5.123MHz输入信号下,8位A/D转换器的SNR为41.39dB和43.19dB。     

A high-speed current conveyor based current comparator

In this paper, a new high-speed current mode comparator based on inherent current conveyor and positive feedback properties is presented. This novel approach has resulted in major reduction of the response time and hence a wide band application of the circuit. Simulation results using HSPICE and 0.18 μm CMOS technology with 1.8 V supply confirms a propagation delay of less than 0.4 ns in the high frequency range of 700 MHz with 158 μw power dissipation. Under the above conditions, the accuracy of the input current is as low as 50 nA.     

Frequency-adjustable clock oscillator based on frequency-to-voltage converter

A frequency-adjustable clock oscillator based on a frequency-to-voltage converter is presented. A new architecture is employed without reference frequency input. The system model shows the conditions of system stability. A compensation circuit was used to cancel the variations of frequency over process and temperature. The range of output frequency is from 22.5-360 MHz, which is within +4.5% variation in worst cases. The circuit was designed in a 0.13 μm CMOS 3.3 V device process, occupying a chip area of about 0.05 mm². The clock oscillator can achieve 25 ps peak-to-peak jitter, 2 μs locked time and consume 5 m W at a 3.3 V supply voltage and 200 MHz output clock.     

0.5 V bulk-driven analog building blocks

Basic analog building blocks, such as voltage follower (VF), second generation Current Conveyor (CCII), and Current Feedback Operational Amplifier (CFOA), capable for operating under 0.5 V supply voltage, are introduced in this paper. The input stage of the proposed blocks is based on bulk-driven pMOS devices, and simultaneously offers the advantages of almost rail-to-rail input/output voltage swing and capability for operation under the extremely low supply voltage. Their performances have been evaluated and compared through simulation results using a standard 0.18 μm n-well process. The bandwidth of the voltage and current followers for both CCII and CFOA is 11 MHz and 10 MHz, respectively. The power consumption of CCII and CFOA is 30 μW and 50 μW, respectively.