A 1.95-V, 0.34-mW, 12-b sigma-delta modulator stabilized by localfeedback loops

The design of a low-power, low-voltage, 12-b 8-kHz bandwidth ΣΔ modulator for high-quality voice that consumes only 0.34 mW at 1.95 V supply is described. The modulator employs a special architecture in which a third-order modulator is stabilized by a local feedback loop around each integrator. Unlike multistage ΣΔ modulators, this architecture is very tolerant to the modest dc gain of low voltage op-amps. The architecture, together with special circuit techniques, permits a low-voltage switched capacitor implementation at 1.95 V-3.3 V supply using standard 1.2-μm CMOS technology     

Low-voltage CMOS low-noise amplifier using planar-interleavedtransformer

A low-voltage CMOS low-noise amplifier (LNA) architecture is presented. A planar-interleaved transformer is used to couple the RF signal between cascode transistors in a conventional LNA topology. Based on the modified RF MOS model, a 5.2 GHz CMOS LNA with fully on-chip input/output matching was designed to verify the low-voltage LNA architecture. The measurement results show that it can be operated with 1 V supply voltage     

On the design of low-voltage, low-power CMOS analog multipliers forRF applications

Novel low-voltage, low-power techniques in the design of portable wireless communication systems are required. Two system examples of low-power analog multipliers operating from a 1.2 V supply are presented. These proposed structures achieve the required multiplication function by using current processing. The circuits were fabricated using standard double-poly CMOS processes for a 900 MHz application. Measurement results of the prototypes are comparable to other higher voltage designs     

Low-voltage transconductor with high linearity and large bandwidth

A linear tunable CMOS transconductor is proposed which uses a new low-voltage supercascode transistor to provide a high output resistance. Using a standard 0.8 /spl mu/m CMOS technology, simulation results are provided that show the operation of the proposed transconductor with a 1.2 V peak-to-peak differential input signal and 1.5 V supply voltage. The proposed transconductor features a high linearity and more than 100 MHz bandwidth.     

Back-gate forward bias method for low-voltage CMOS digital circuits

The back-gate forward bias method suitable for present standard bulk CMOS processes has been promoted for low-voltage digital circuit application. A CMOS inverter employing the method has experimentally exhibited the ability of electrically adjusting the transition region of the dc voltage transfer characteristics. Transient measurement has further shown that the inverter with a back-gate forward bias of 0.4 V can operate at low supply voltages down to 0.6 V without significant loss in switching speed. Guidelines for ensuring proper implementation of the method in a bulk CMOS process have been set up against latch-up, parasitic bipolar, impact ionization, and stand by current. Following these guidelines, a cost-effective low power, low-voltage, high-density mixed mode CMOS analog/digital integrated circuits chip with both reasonable speed and improved precision has been projected for the first time     

Low-voltage CMOS current-mode exponential circuit with 70 dB output dynamic range

The paper proposes new accurate exponential circuits, having a multitude of practical applications in analog signal processing. The original method for obtaining the exponential function is based on the utilization of new superior-order approximation functions. The accuracy of the proposed structures is excellent and the output dynamic range is strongly extended as a result of the fourth-order approximation and of the independence of implemented function on technological errors and on temperature variations (the best original proposed architecture of the exponential generator has an output dynamic range of 70 dB for an approximation error smaller than ±1 dB). The exponential circuits are designed for implementing in 0.18 µm CMOS technology, having a low-voltage operation (a minimal supply voltage of 1 V). The power consumptions of the proposed exponential circuits are smaller than 0.08 mW, for a supply voltage of 1 V. As application of the new exponential circuit, a dB-linear VGA circuit with high output dynamic range will be presented. The new computational structures have the possibility of generating any continuous mathematical function, presenting also an increased modularity and controllability and reduced design costs per implemented function.     

A high-speed and low-voltage associative co-processor with exact Hamming/Manhattan-distance estimation using word-parallel and hierarchical search architecture

A high-speed and low-voltage associative co-processor with exact Hamming or Manhattan distance estimation is presented. The word-parallel and hierarchical search architecture is achieved using a logic-in-memory digital implementation. In the bit-serial search architecture, it is important to shorten the search cycle time since the total search time generally increases in proportion to the bit length. The present hierarchical architecture achieves a high-speed operation with a large input number. Furthermore, it provides a result for the data close to the input with a fewer number of clocks. Therefore, it reduces the number of clocks required for nearest-match detection in practical use. The circuit implementation allows unlimited database capacity and achieves a low-voltage operation under 1.0 V for system-on-a-chip applications. The capacity scalability makes it easy to compute a function of Manhattan distance estimation using thermometer encoding. A 64-bit 32-word associative co-processor has been designed using a one-poly-Si five-metal 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process and has been successfully tested. The measurement results show that the operation achieves a speed of 411.5 MHz at a supply voltage of 1.8 V. The worst-case search time is 158.0 ns for a 64-bit 32-word database. In a low-voltage operation, the operation speed achieves 40.0 MHz at a supply voltage of 0.75 V.     

Novel low-voltage ultra-low-power DVCC based on floating-gate folded cascode OTA

In this paper a novel low-voltage ultra-low-power differential voltage current conveyor (DVCC) based on folded cascode operational transconductance amplifier OTA with only one differential pairs floating-gate MOS transistor (FG-MOST) is presented. The main features of the proposed conveyor are: design simplicity; rail-to-rail input voltage swing capability at a low supply voltage of ±0.5 V; and ultra-low-power consumption of mere 10 μW. Thanks to these features, the proposed circuit could be successfully employed in a wide range of low-voltage ultra-low-power analog signal processing applications. Implementation of new multifunction frequency filter based on the proposed FG-DVCC is presented in this paper to take the advantages of the properties of the proposed circuit. PSpice simulation results using 0.18 μm CMOS technology are included as well to validate the functionality of the proposed circuit.     

A 1.5-V current-mode CMOS sample-and-hold IC with 57-dB S/N at 20MS/s and 54-dB S/N at 30 MS/s

A new video-speed current-mode CMOS sample-and-hold IC has been developed. It operates with a supply voltage as low as 1.5 V, a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 57 dB and 54 dB with a 1-MHz input signal at clock frequencies of 20 and 30 MHz, and a power dissipation of 2.3 mW. It consists of current-mirror circuits with the node voltages at the input and the output terminals which are kept constant in all phases of the input signal by the use of low-voltage operational amplifiers; this reduces the signal current dependency. The low-voltage operational amplifier consists of a MOS transistor and a constant current source in a common-gate amplifier configuration. Only two analog switches in differential form were used to construct the differential sample-and-hold circuit. This minimizes the error caused by the switch feed through, and thus high accuracy can be realized. Since there is no analog switch in the input path, it is possible to convert the input signal voltage to a current by simply connecting an external resistor. The circuit was fabricated using standard 0.6-μm MOS devices with normal threshold voltages (V_th) of +0.7 V (nMOS) and -0.7 V (pMOS)     

Low-voltage high-gain differential OTA for SC circuits

A new differential operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) for SC circuits that operates with a supply voltage of less than two transistor threshold voltages is presented. Its simplicity relies on the use of a low-voltage regulated cascode circuit, which achieves very high output impedance under low-voltage restrictions. The OTA has been designed to operate with a supply voltage of V/sub DD/=1.5 V, using a 0.6 /spl mu/m CMOS technology with transistor threshold voltages of V/sub TN/=0.75 V and V/sub TP/=-0.85 V. Post-layout simulation results for a load capacitance (C/sub L/) of 2 pF show a 75 MHz gain-bandwidth product and 100 dB DC gain with a quiescent power consumption of 750 /spl mu/W.     

低压低功耗无源UHF RFID标签芯片模拟前端电路的设计

本文从设计符合EPCTM C1G2协议的超高频无源射频识别标签芯片的角度出发,对RFID标签芯片模拟前端电路进行设计.通过对各个关键电路的功耗与电源进行优化,实现了一个符合协议要求的低电压、低功耗的超高频无源RFID标签芯片的模拟前端.该UHF RFID标签模拟前端设计采用SMIC 0.18 μm EEPROM CMOS工艺库.仿真结果表明,标签芯片模拟前端的整体功耗控制在2.5 μW以下,工作电源可低至1 V,更好地满足了超高频无源射频识别标签芯片应用需求.     

Design to suppress return-back leakage current of charge pump circuit in low-voltage CMOS process

A new charge pump circuit has been proposed to suppress the return-back leakage current without suffering the gate-oxide reliability problem in low-voltage CMOS process. The four-phase clocks were used to control the charge-transfer devices turning on and turning off alternately to suppress the return-back leakage current. A test chip has been implemented in a 65-nm CMOS process to verify the proposed charge pump circuit with four pumping stages. The measured output voltage is around 8.8 V with 1.8-V supply voltage to drive a capacitive output load, which is better than the conventional charge pump circuit with the same pumping stages. By reducing the return-back leakage current and without suffering gate-oxide overstress problem, the new proposed charge pump circuit is suitable for applications in low-voltage CMOS IC products.     

Sub-1 V CMOS large capacitive-load driver circuit using directbootstrap technique for low-voltage CMOS VLSI

A novel sub-1 V CMOS large capacitive-load driver circuit using a direct bootstrap technique for low-voltage CMOS VLSI is reported. For a supply voltage of 1 V, the CMOS large capacitive-load driver circuit using the direct bootstrap technique shows a 3.3 times improvement in switching speed in driving a capacitive load of 2 pF compared to the conventional bootstrapped CMOS driver circuit using an indirect bootstrap technique. Even for a supply voltage of 0.8 V, this CMOS large capacitive load driver circuit using the direct bootstrap technique is still advantageous     

Design of low-voltage CMOS continuous-time filter with on-chipautomatic tuning

A technique for designing a low-voltage continuous-time active filter is presented in this paper. In this technique, current sources are added to the inverting or noninverting op-amp terminals such that the op-amp input common-mode voltages can be set close to one of the supply rails to allow low-voltage operation. An automatic frequency and Q tuning technique is proposed for tuning the active filter using programmable capacitor arrays (PCAs). The proposed tuning technique does not require any peak detectors, which are difficult to implement at a low supply voltage. Instead, it uses a few analog comparators, a digital comparator, and a few binary counters to adjust the PCAs. To demonstrate the proposed techniques, a 1-V 1-MHz second-order filter fabricated in a conventional 1.2-μm CMOS process is presented. For a 5-kHz input signal, the filter achieves a THD of -60.2 dB for a peak-to-peak output voltage of 600 mV. The frequency tuning range is between 585 kHz and 1.325 MHz. The measured power consumption for the filter alone consumes about 0.52 mW and for the entire system consumes about 1.6 mW for a supply voltage of ±0.5 V     

A parallel structure for CMOS four-quadrant analog multipliers andits application to a 2-GHz RF downconversion mixer

A parallel structure for a CMOS four-quadrant analog multiplier is proposed and analyzed. By applying differential input signals to a set of combiners, the multiplication function can be implemented. Based on the proposed structure, a low-voltage high-performance CMOS four-quadrant analog multiplier is designed and fabricated by 0.8 μm N-well double-poly-double-metal CMOS technology. Experimental results have shown that, under a single 1.2 V supply voltage, the circuit has 0.89% linearity error and 1.1% total harmonic distortion under the maximum-scale input 500 mV_p-p at both multiplier inputs. The -3 dB bandwidth is 2.2 MHz and the DC current is 2.3 mA. By using the proposed multiplier as a mixer-core and connecting a newly designed output buffer, a CMOS RF downconversion mixer is designed and implemented by 0.5 μm single-poly-double-metal N-well CMOS technology. The experimental results have shown that, under 3 V supply voltage and 2 dBm LO power, the mixer has -1 dB conversion gain, 2.2 GHz input bandwidth, 180 MHz output bandwidth, and 22 dB noise figure. Under the LO frequency 1.9 GHz and the total DC current 21 mA, the third-order input intercept point is +7.5 dBm and the input 1 dB compression point is -9 dBm     

0.15-μm RF CMOS technology compatible with logic CMOS forlow-voltage operation

Radio Frequency (RF) CMOS is expected to replace bipolar and GaAs MESFETs in RF front-end ICs for mobile telecommunications devices in the near future. In order for the RF CMOS to be popularly used in this application, compatibility of its process for high-speed logic CMOS and low supply voltage operation are important for low fabrication cost and low power consumption. In this paper, a 0.15-μm RF CMOS technology compatible with logic CMOS for low-voltage operation is described. Because the fabrication process is the same as the high-speed logic CMOS, manufacturability of this technology is excellent. Some of the passive elements can be integrated without changing the process and others can be integrated with the addition of a few optional processes. Mixed RF and logic CMOS devices in a one-chip LSI can be realized with relatively low cost. Excellent high-frequency characteristics of small geometry silicon MOSFETs with low-power supply voltage are demonstrated. Cutoff frequency of 42 GHz of n-MOSFETs, which is almost the same level at that of general high-performance silicon bipolar transistors, was obtained. N-MOSFET's maintained enough high cutoff frequency of 32 GHz even at extremely low supply voltage of 0.5 V. Moreover, it was confirmed that degradation of minimum noise figure for deep submicron MOSFETs with 0.5 V operation is sufficiently small compared with 2.0 V operation. These excellent high-frequency characteristics of small geometry silicon MOSFETs under low-voltage operation are suitable for mobile telecommunications applications     

A 1.5-V full-swing bootstrapped CMOS large capacitive-load drivercircuit suitable for low-voltage CMOS VLSI

This paper reports a 1.5-V full-swing bootstrapped CMOS large capacitive-load driver circuit using two bootstrap capacitors to enhance the switching speed for low-voltage CMOS VLSI. For a supply voltage of 1.5 V, the full-swing bootstrapped CMOS driver circuit shows a 2.2 times improvement in switching speed in driving a capacitive load of 10 pF as compared to the conventional CMOS driver circuit. Even for a supply voltage of 1 V, this full-swing bootstrapped CMOS large capacitive-load driver circuit is still advantageous     

Threshold-voltage balance for minimum supply operation [LV CMOS chips]

The difference between the threshold voltages V/sub t/ of pMOS and nMOS transistors is a critical issue in the low-voltage operation of CMOS circuits. The pMOS/nMOS V/sub t/ balancing profit is analyzed in terms of subthreshold leakage current and the performance of CMOS LSIs and the minimum supply voltage of logic circuits. Matching the pMOS/nMOS V/sub t/ improves LSI performance and reduces the lowest supply voltage by 0.15 V. We propose a new concept of body bias management that uses forward biasing, fluctuation compensating, and V/sub t/ matching technologies to resolve the issue.     

A low-power RF integrated circuit for implantable sensors

A low-power low-voltage analog signal processing circuit has been designed, fabricated, and tested. The circuit is capable of processing an analog sensor current and producing an ASK modulated digital signal with modulating signal frequency proportional to the sensor current level. An on-chip regulator has been included to stabilize the supply voltage received from an external RF power source. The circuit can operate with a power supply as low as 1 V and consumes only about 20 μW of power, which is therefore very suitable for implantable biomedical applications. The whole chip was laid out and fabricated in a 0.35 μm bulk CMOS technology. Experimental results show good agreement with the simulation results.     

Novel low-voltage folder for analogue-to-digital converter

A novel architecture of low-voltage folder is presented for folding analogue-to-digital (A/D) converter applications. With MOS transistors completely replacing the resistor load used in the conventional folder, this circuit has a good power-supply–rejection-ratio (PSRR) 21.2?dB for the output common voltage and can work well even under a very low power supply 1.0?V. A moderately high gain 14.5?dB and a wide input bandwidth 506?MHz are obtained. The circuit dissipates only 1.2?mW from 1.2?V power supply. The performance is verified by Hspice-Avanti-99.4 simulations on 0.18?µm digital CMOS technology.