低功耗恒定跨导轨对轨运算放大器设计技术研究

为了解决轨对轨运算放大器输入级跨导随共模输入电压变化的影响,采用实时共模电压监测技术,动态跟踪轨对轨运放输入级的跨导变化,通过对偏置电流的高精度定量补偿,从而实现了对输入级跨导的恒定性控制。基于0.18μm CMOS工艺进行了具体电路的设计实现,结果表明:在电源电压3.3 V、负载电阻100Ω、负载电容1 nF的条件下,运放增益为148 dB、相位裕度为61°、功耗为39.6μW,共模输入范围高达0~3.3 V,输入级跨导变化率仅为2.1%。     

Operational amplifier with 1-V rail-to-rail multipath-driven outputstage

A bipolar operational amplifier (op amp) with a rail-to-rail multipath-driven output stage that operates at supply voltages down to 1 V is presented. The bandwidth of this output stage is as high as possible, viz, equal to that of one of the output transistors, loaded by the output capacitance. The output voltage can reach both supply rails within 100 mV and the output current is ±15 mA. The op amp is designed to be loaded by a 100-pF capacitor and the unity-gain bandwidth is 3.4 MHz at a 60° phase margin. The voltage gain is 117 dB and the CMRR is 100 dB. The frequency behavior of the multipath-driven (MPD) topology has an improved performance when compared to that of previously presented low-voltage output stages. A figure of merit F_M for low-voltage op amps has been defined as the bandwidth-power ratio     

Interference-rejection characteristics of biopotential amplifiers: a comparative analysis

The circuit parameters contributing to power line interference in ground-referenced, two- and three-electrode biopotential amplifiers, both isolated and nonisolated, are reviewed. The effects of external interference on different amplifiers are compared by using the 'effective coupling impedance' concept. Next, an analysis of the effect of imbalanced input impedances is carried out. It is concluded that the interference in an isolated amplifier is not always lower than in a nonisolated one, and that it must be reduced by an adequate sharing between the CMRR (common mode rejection ratio) and the IMRR (isolation mode rejection ratio); that an increase in common mode input impedance always reduces interferences in three-electrode amplifiers but not in two-electrode amplifiers; and that in two-electrode amplifiers, not only is the matching of input op amps important, but also the tolerance of components in first-stage circuits.<>     

A novel fully differential biopotential amplifier with dc suppression

Fully differential amplifiers yield large differential gains and also high common mode rejection ratio (CMRR), provided they do not include any unmatched grounded component. In biopotential measurements, however, the admissible gain of amplification stages located before dc suppression is usually limited by electrode offset voltage, which can saturate amplifier outputs. The standard solution is to first convert the differential input voltage to a single-ended voltage and then implement any other required functions, such as dc suppression and dc level restoring. This approach, however, yields a limited CMRR and may result in a relatively large equivalent input noise. This paper describes a novel fully differential biopotential amplifier based on a fully differential dc-suppression circuit that does not rely on any matched passive components, yet provides large CMRR and fast recovery from dc level transients. The proposed solution is particularly convenient for low supply voltage systems. An example implementation, based on standard low-power op amps and a single 5-V power supply, accepts input offset voltages up to +/-500 mV, yields a CMRR of 102 dB at 50 Hz, and provides, in accordance with the AAMI EC38 standard, a reset behavior for recovering from overloads or artifacts.     

一种基于准浮栅技术的折叠差分结构及其应用

提出了一种基于准浮栅技术的新型折叠差分结构,其偏置电流源的电压降被折叠到输出电压摆幅中,且不受共模输入电压限制而达到较大范围,非常适于低压应用。基于此结构,实现了一种超低压运算放大器。仿真分析表明,该运算放大器能够实现轨到轨(rail-to-rail)的共模输入电压范围和输出电压摆幅,以及较高的共模抑制比。     

一种0.8V衬底驱动轨对轨运算放大器设计

采用衬底驱动技术设计低压低功耗轨对轨运算放大器。输入级采用衬底驱动MOSFET,有效避开阈值电压限制,将电源电压降至0.8V,实现低压下轨对轨共模输入范围。增加衬底驱动冗余差分对及反折式共源共栅求和电路实现恒定跨导控制,消除共模电压对输入级跨导的影响,输出采用前馈式AB类输出级,以提高动态输出电压范围。基于标准0.18μmCMOS工艺仿真运放,测得输出范围0.4～782.5mV,功耗48.8μW,电源抑制比58dB,CMRR65dB,直流开环增益63.8dB,单位增益带宽2.4MHz,相位裕度68°。版图设计采用双阱交叉空铅技术,面积为97.8μm×127.6μm。     

Constant-Gm rail-to-rail common-mode rangeinput stage with minimum CMRR degradation

The inherent drawbacks associated with CMOS amplifiers with rail-to-rail input common-mode range (CMR) are addressed. It is shown how they impact on the amplifier and limit its performance. An input stage, suitable to be incorporated in the design of any amplifier topology with extended input range, is introduced. By controlling the bias current level as a function of the input common-mode voltage, the input stage provides simultaneously an almost constant total transconductance and over 18 dB of common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) improvement in comparison to the classical approach with just 5 V of total supply voltage. Experimental results obtained from the evaluation of a prototype chip fabricated in a standard CMOS p-well process with 2-μm feature size are given     

An ultra low power,low voltage tailless QFG based differential amplifier with High CMRR,rail to rail operation and enhanced slew rate

This paper proposes a novel tailless ultra low power low voltage high CMRR differential amplifier (D.A.) with rail-to-rail input common mode range (ICMR) based on quasi floating gate (QFG) transistors. For low voltage operation, the tail current source of the conventional D.A. is removed and the resulted lack of CMRR is highly compensated by means of two simple inverters. The required supply voltage is only VGS + VDS_sat (with their usual meanings of symbols) which is one VDS_sat lower than the required supply voltage for the conventional D.A. Unlike the conventional differential amplifier, slew rate (SR) in the proposed one is not limited by the tail current source and is determined by the amplitude of input signals. The principle of operation, small signal analysis and the formula of the most important parameters of the proposed D.A. are presented. HSPICE simulation results using TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS process parameters and ±0.4 V supply voltage are presented which verify the high performance of the proposed scheme. The simulation results show a rail-to-rail operation and 121 dB CMRR for the proposed tailless differential amplifier. The corner case simulation results are also provided which show a robust performance for the proposed structure. Its unity gain bandwidth product is 72.3 MHz that is 2.31 times larger than that of conventional differential amplifier. Positive and negative SRs are improved by a factor of 7.4 and 3.58 times respectively compared to conventional one. It has also an ultra low power dissipation of 6.89 μW.     

Robust Design of LV/LP Low-Distortion CMOS Rail-to-Rail Input Stages

Two robust CMOS rail-to-rail OpAmp input stages are presented for low voltage ( 3 V) applications. The robust input stages are implemented using two recently reported universal approaches to achieve constant transconductance. Transconductance control circuit is also introduced to compensate for K _p , K _n mismatch of PMOS and NMOS differential pairs in the input stage. The input stages are designed for operation in the strong inversion and have a rail-to-rail common mode input voltage range. Compared with an OpAmp with simple complementary input pairs, a two stage rail-to-rail OpAmp design example exhibits lower total harmonic distortion (THD) levels over the entire common mode input voltage range.currently on leave as a visiting scholar at OSU     

Constant-gm rail-to-rail CMOS op-amp input stage withoverlapped transition regions

Conventional techniques to achieve a constant-g_m rail-to-rail complementary N-P differential input stage require complex additional circuitry. In addition, the frequency response and common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) are degraded. An economical but efficient design technique to overcome these problems is proposed. The proposed technique strategically overlaps the transition regions of the tail currents for the n- and p-pairs to achieve constant overall transconductance. Experimental results demonstrate that g_m variation can be restricted to within ±4% with improved CMRR and frequency response     

Some Design Aspects of a Two-Stage Rail-to-Rail CMOS Op Amp

A two-stage low-voltage CMOS op amp with rail-to-rail input and output voltage ranges is presented. The circuit uses complementary differential input pairs to achieve the rail-to-rail common-mode input voltage range. The differential pairs operate in strong inversion, and the constant transconductance is obtained by keeping the sum of the square roots of the tail currents constant. Such an input stage has an offset voltage which depends on the common input voltage level, resulting in a poor common-mode rejection ratio. Therefore, special attention has been given to the reduction of the op amp's systematic offset voltage. Gain-boost amplifiers are connected in a special way to provide not only an increase of the low-frequency open-loop gain, but also to provide a significant reduction of the systematic offset voltage.     

A Novel Resistor-Free Electronically Adjustable Current-Mode Instrumentation Amplifier

In this paper, a novel topology for implementing resistor-free current-mode instrumentation amplifier (CMIA) is presented. Unlike the other previously reported instrumentation amplifiers (IAs), in which input and/or output signals are in voltage domain, the input and output signals in the proposed structure are current signals and signal processing is also completely done in current domain benefiting from the full advantages of current-mode signal processing. Interestingly the CMRR of the proposed topology is wholly determined by only five transistors. Compared to the most of the previously reported IAs in which at least two active elements are used to attain high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) resulting in a complicated circuit, the proposed structure enjoys from an extremely simple circuit. It also exhibits low input impedance employing negative feedback principal. Of more interest is that, using simple degenerate current mirrors, the differential-mode gain of the proposed CMIA can be electronically varied by control voltage. This property makes it completely free of resistors. The very low number of transistors used in the structure of the proposed CMIA grants it such desirable properties as low-voltage low-power operation, suitability for integration, wide bandwidth etc. SPICE simulation results using the TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS process model under supply voltage of ±0.8 V show a high CMRR of 91 dB and a low input impedance of 291.5 Ω for the proposed CMIA. Temperature simulation results are also provided, which prove low temperature sensitivity of the proposed CMIA.     

一个低噪声轨到轨输入输出范围的运算放大器

设计了一个轨到轨输入输出范围的低噪声运算放大器.在输入级采用电流补偿的方法来稳定该运算放大器在整个输入共模范围内的跨导,在输出级使用AB类的输出方法来提高运算放大器的输出范围,并运用双极晶体管比较低的闪烁噪声来改善该运算放大器的噪声性能,以此提高该运算放大器的动态范围.     

A rail-to-rail CMOS op amp

A CMOS op amp (operational amplifier) is reported which has a rail-to-rail voltage range at its input as well as its output. An area-efficient output stage has been used. While the entire op amp occupies only 600 mil², when used as a unity-gain buffer and with ±5-V supplies, the op amp can drive a 9-V_pp/1-kHz sine wave across a 300-Ω load with -64 dB of harmonic distortion     

低功耗轨至轨CMOS运算放大器设计

设计了一个1.5 V低功耗轨至轨CMOS运算放大器。电路设计中为了使输入共模电压范围达到轨至轨性能,采用了NMOS管和PMOS管并联的互补差动对输入结构,并采用成比例的电流镜技术实现了输入级跨导的恒定。在中间增益级设计中,采用了适合在低压工作的低压宽摆幅共源共栅结构;在输出级设计时,为了提高效率,采用了简单的推挽共源级放大器作为输出级,使得输出电压摆幅基本上达到了轨至轨。当接100 pF电容负载和1 kΩ电阻负载时,运放的静态功耗只有290μW,直流开环增益约为76 dB,相位裕度约为69°,单位增益带宽约为1 MHz。     

Design for testability of embedded integrated operationalamplifiers

The operational amplifier (op amp) is one of the most encountered analog building blocks. In this paper, the problem of testing an integrated op amp is treated. A new low-cost vectorless test solution, known as oscillation test, is investigated to test the op amp. During the test mode, the op amps are converted to a circuit that oscillates and the oscillation frequency is evaluated to monitor faults. The tolerance band of the oscillation frequency is determined using a Monte Carlo analysis taking into account the nominal tolerance of all important technology and design parameters. Faults in the op amps under test which cause the oscillation frequency to exit the tolerance band can therefore be detected. Some Design for Testability (DfT) rules to rearrange op amps to form oscillators are presented and the related practical problems and limitations are discussed. The oscillation frequency can be easily and precisely evaluated using pure digital circuitry. The simulation and practical implementation results confirm that the presented techniques ensure a high fault coverage with a low area overhead     

1-V operational amplifier with rail-to-rail input and output ranges

A bipolar operational amplifier (OA) with rail-to-rail input and output ranges which can operate at supply voltages down to 1 V is presented. At this supply voltage, the input offset voltage is typically 1.0 mV in an input common-mode voltage range that extends beyond both supply rails for about 300 mV, with a common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) between 38 and 100 dB, depending on conditions. The output voltage can reach both supply rails within 100 mV, the output current is limited to ±10 mA, the voltage gain is 100 dB, and the bandwidth is 450 kHz. The die is 2.5×5.5 mm². Qualities such as offset, input-bias current, and CMRR are improved when the supply voltage is increased and the dynamic level shift is autonomically turned off. The OA has been protected against unintentional reversal of the output signal when the inputs are substantially overdriven. The output stage of the circuit consists of two full complementary composite transistors, whose HF characteristics have been improved by internal Miller compensation and linearization of the transconductance     

A rail-to-rail, constant gain, buffered op-amp for real time videoapplications

Inspired by Hogervorst et al's current switch idea, a buffered output stage operational amplifier was designed, which has high frequency, high dc gain, and rail-to-rail constant transconductance (G _m). This operational amplifier is the output stage of an analog/digital system which implements a Gabor convolution for real-time dynamic image processing and it is designed to interface the external analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with a very heavy load. The op amp was fabricated by the MOSIS service in a 2-μm, n-well CMOS, double polysilicon, double metal technology. The fabricated circuit operates from a single 5 V power supply and dissipates 10 mW. The open loop-gain of the fabricated circuit, A_vol, was measured as 67.2 dB for a 163 Ω∥33 pF load. Other dc and ac characteristics were measured for a 50 Ω∥33 pF load. The unify gain-bandwidth (GBW) was measured to be 11.4 MHz, the rising slew rate (SR+) 20.4 V/μs, the falling slew rate (SR-) 18.8 V/μs, and the offset voltage (V_off) 1 mV. The output swings with an amplitude of 3.24 V between 0.88 V and 4.12 V, which matches the input signal specifications of the ADC. In addition to rail-to-rail output voltage swing, the opamp has a constant G_m over the whole common mode (CM) voltage range     

AC coupled three op-amp biopotential amplifier with active DC suppression

A three op-amps instrumentation amplifier (I.A) with active dc suppression is presented. dc suppression is achieved by means of a controlled floating source at the input stage, to compensate electrode and op-amps offset voltages. This isolated floating source is built around an optical-isolated device using a general-purpose optocoupler, working as a photovoltaic generator. The proposed circuit has many interesting characteristics regarding simplicity and cost, while preserving common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) and high input impedance characteristics of the classic three op-amps I.A. As an example, a biopotential amplifier with a gain of 80 dB, a lower cutoff frequency of 0.1 Hz, and a dc input range of +/- 8 mV was built and tested. Using general-purpose op-amps, a CMRR of 105 was achieved without trimmings.     

A 1-V BiCMOS rail-to-rail amplifier with n-channel depletion modeinput stage

A BiCMOS rail-to-rail operational amplifier capable of operating from supply voltages as low as 1 V is presented. The folded cascode input stage uses an nMOS depletion mode differential pair to provide rail-to-rail common mode voltage range while typically requiring only 40 fA of input bias current. The bipolar transistor differential-to-single-ended conversion network employs a low-voltage base current cancellation technique which provides high input stage voltage gain from a l-V supply yet allows a 3-V/μs slew rate capability. The bipolar transistor output stage uses a low-voltage translinear loop which maintains a low impedance signal path to the output common emitter power devices. This circuit topology enables the amplifier to achieve a 4-MHz bandwidth with 60° of phase margin. The output voltage can swing to within 50 mV of each supply rail. An “on-demand” base current boost technique will be presented which can provide up to 50 mA of output drive capability from a 5-V supply, yet consumes only a few microamps when the output is in the quiescent state. A low voltage level shift technique will be described which uses an n-channel depletion mode source follower to provide isolation between the input and output stages