A Low-Power Wide-Linear-Range Transconductance Amplifier

The linear range of approximately ±75mV of traditional subthreshold transconductance amplifiers istoo small for certain applications—for example, for filtersin electronic cochleas, where it is desirable to handle loudsounds without distortion and to have a large dynamic range.We describe a transconductance amplifier designed for low-power(< 1 µW) subthreshold operation with a wideinput linear range. We obtain wide linear range by widening thetanh, or decreasing the ratio of transconductance to bias current,by a combination of four techniques. First, the well terminalsof the input differential-pair transistors are used as the amplifierinputs. Then, feedback techniques known as source degeneration(a common technique) and gate degeneration (a new technique)provide further improvements. Finally, a novel bump-linearizationtechnique extends the linear range even further. We present signal-flowdiagrams for speedy analysis of such circuit techniques. Ourtransconductance reduction is achieved in a compact 13-transistorcircuit without degrading other characteristics such as dc-inputoperating range. In a standard 2 µm process,we were able to obtain a linear range of ±1.7V.Using our wide-linear-range amplifier and a capacitor, we constructa follower–integrator with an experimental dynamic rangeof 65 dB. We show that, if the amplifier's noise is predominantlythermal, then an increase in its linear range increases thefollower–integrator'sdynamic range. If the amplifier's noise is predominantly 1/f,then an increase in its linear range has no effect on thefollower–integrator'sdynamic range. To preserve follower–integrator bandwidth,power consumption increases proportionately with an increasein the amplifier's linear range. We also present data for changesin the subthreshold exponential parameter with current leveland with gate-to-bulk voltage that should be of interest to alllow-power designers. We have described the use of our amplifierin a silicon cochlea 1, 2].