An enhanced fast slew rate recycling folded cascode Op-Amp with general improvement in 180 nm CMOS process

Author(s):  
Seyed Vahid Feizbakhsh ◽  
Ghader Yosefi
2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 205-213
Author(s):  
Norhamizah Idros ◽  
Zulfiqar Ali Abdul Aziz ◽  
Jagadheswaran Rajendran

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the acceptable performance by using the limited input range towards lower open-loop DC gain operational amplifier (op-amp) of an 8-bit pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for mobile communication application. Design/methodology/approach An op-amp with folded cascode configuration is designed to provide the maximum open-loop DC gain without any gain-boosting technique. The impact of low open-loop DC gain is observed and analysed through the results of pre-, post-layout simulations and measurement of the ADC. The fabrication process technology used is Silterra 0.18-µm CMOS process. The silicon area by the ADC is 1.08 mm2. Findings Measured results show the differential non-linearity (DNL) error, integral non-linearity (INL) error, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) are within −0.2 to +0.2 LSB, −0.55 LSB for 0.4 Vpp input range, 22 and 27 dB, respectively, with 2 MHz input signal at the rate of 64 MS/s. The static power consumption is 40 mW with a supply voltage of 1.8 V. Originality/value The experimental results of ADC showed that by limiting the input range to ±0.2 V, this ADC is able to give a good reasonable performance. Open-loop DC gain of op-amp plays a critical role in ADC performance. Low open-loop DC gain results in stage-gain error of residue amplifier and, thus, leads to nonlinearity of output code. Nevertheless, lowering the input range enhances the linearity to ±0.2 LSB.


Circuit World ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roohie Kaushik ◽  
Jasdeep Kaur ◽  
Anushree Anushree

Purpose Reference voltage or current generators are an important requirement for an analog or digital circuit design. Bandgap reference circuits (BGR) are most common way of generating the reference voltage. This paper aims to provide a detailed insight of design of a folded cascode operational amplifier (FC op amp) and a BGR circuit. The complete study flow from design to layout of the circuits on 180 nm semiconductor laboratory (SCL) process leading to bonding diagram for possible tape-out is discussed. This study work has been supported by MeitY, Govt. of India, through Special Manpower Development Project Chip to System Design. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides a detailed insight in design of a FC op amp and a BGR circuit. The complete study flow from design to layout of the two circuits on 180 nm SCL process leading to bonding diagram for possible tape-out is discussed. Section 2 shows the design of FC op amp, beta-multiplier circuit and their simulation results. Section 3 describes the comparison of design of conventional BGR and the proposed BGR with other state-of-art BGR circuits. Section 4 gives the comparison of their performance. The conclusion is given in Section 5. Findings The post-layout simulation of FC op amp show an open-loop gain of 64.5 dB, 3-dB frequency of 5.5 KHz, unity-gain bandwidth of 8.7 MHz, slew rate of 8.4 V/µs, CMRR of 111 dB and power of 25.5µW. Among the two BGR designs, the conventional BGR generated 693 mV of reference voltage with a temperature coefficient of 16 ppm/°C the other BGR, with curvature correction generated 1.3 V of reference voltage with a temperate coefficient of 6.3 ppm/°C , both results in temperature ranging from −40°C to 125°C. The chip layout of the circuits designed on 180 nm SCL process ensures design rule check (DRC), Antenna and layout versus schematic (LVS) clean with metal fill. Research limitations/implications Slew rate, stability analysis, power are important parameters which should be taken care while designing an op amp for a BGR. Direct current gain should be kept higher to reduce offset errors. Input common mode range is decided by the operating temperature range. A higher power supply rejection ratio will reduce BGR sensitivity to supply voltage variations. Input offset should be kept low to reduce BGR error in reference voltage. However, this paper emphasis on the flow from schematic to layout using simulation tools. As part of the study, the bonding diagram for tape-out of BGR and FC design in the given SCL frame size with seal ring is also explored, for possible tape-out. Practical implications Reference voltage or current generators are an important requirement for an analog or digital circuit design. BGR are most common way of generating the reference voltage. This paper provides a detailed insight in design of a FC op amp and a BGR circuit. The complete study flow from design to layout of the circuits on 180 nm SCL process leading to bonding diagram for possible tape-out is discussed. The chip layout of the circuits was designed on 180 nm SCL process ensuring DRC, antenna and LVS clean with metal fill using Cadence virtuoso and Mentor Graphics Calibre simulation tools. Social implications BGR are most common way of generating the reference voltage. This paper gives a detailed insight of a BGR design using a folded-cascode operational amplifier. The FC op amp is biased using a beta multiplier circuit and high-swing cascode current mirror circuit. The paper discuss FC circuit design flow from schematic to layout. Originality/value FC op amp is biased using a beta multiplier circuit and high-swing cascode current mirror. The paper discusses FC design flow from schematic to layout. The circuits were designed on 180 nm SCL technology with 1.8 V of power supply. The post-layout simulation show an open-loop gain of 64.5 dB, 3 dB frequency of 5.5 KHz, unity-gain bandwidth of 8.7 MHz, slew rate of 8.4 V/µs, CMRR of 111 dB and power of 25.5 µW. BGR were designed using FC op amp. The proposed BGR generated 1.3 V of reference voltage with a temperature coefficient of 6.3 ppm/°C in the range from −40°C to 125°C in schematic simulation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Dadashi ◽  
Shamin Sadrafshari ◽  
Khayrollah Hadidi ◽  
Abdollah Khoei

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Francesco Centurelli ◽  
Riccardo Della Sala ◽  
Pietro Monsurrò ◽  
Giuseppe Scotti ◽  
Alessandro Trifiletti

In this paper, we present a novel operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) topology based on a dual-path body-driven input stage that exploits a body-driven current mirror-active load and targets ultra-low-power (ULP) and ultra-low-voltage (ULV) applications, such as IoT or biomedical devices. The proposed OTA exhibits only one high-impedance node, and can therefore be compensated at the output stage, thus not requiring Miller compensation. The input stage ensures rail-to-rail input common-mode range, whereas the gate-driven output stage ensures both a high open-loop gain and an enhanced slew rate. The proposed amplifier was designed in an STMicroelectronics 130 nm CMOS process with a nominal supply voltage of only 0.3 V, and it achieved very good values for both the small-signal and large-signal Figures of Merit. Extensive PVT (process, supply voltage, and temperature) and mismatch simulations are reported to prove the robustness of the proposed amplifier.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4694
Author(s):  
Kyeongsik Nam ◽  
Hyungseup Kim ◽  
Yongsu Kwon ◽  
Gyuri Choi ◽  
Taeyup Kim ◽  
...  

Air flow measurements provide significant information required for understanding the characteristics of insect movement. This study proposes a four-channel low-noise readout integrated circuit (IC) in order to measure air flow (air velocity), which can be beneficial to insect biomimetic robot systems that have been studied recently. Instrumentation amplifiers (IAs) with low-noise characteristics in readout ICs are essential because the air flow of an insect’s movement, which is electrically converted using a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor, generally produces a small signal. The fundamental architecture employed in the readout IC is a three op amp IA, and it accomplishes low-noise characteristics by chopping. Moreover, the readout IC has a four-channel input structure and implements an automatic offset calibration loop (AOCL) for input offset correction. The AOCL based on the binary search logic adjusts the output offset by controlling the input voltage bias generated by the R-2R digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The electrically converted air flow signal is amplified using a three op amp IA, which is passed through a low-pass filter (LPF) for ripple rejection that is generated by chopping, and converted to a digital code by a 12-bit successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Furthermore, the readout IC contains a low-dropout (LDO) regulator that enables the supply voltage to drive digital circuits, and a serial peripheral interface (SPI) for digital communication. The readout IC is designed with a 0.18 μm CMOS process and the current consumption is 1.886 mA at 3.3 V supply voltage. The IC has an active area of 6.78 mm2 and input-referred noise (IRN) characteristics of 95.4 nV/√Hz at 1 Hz.


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