An analytical criterion for the optimization of the small-signal settling time in three-stage amplifiers is carried out. The criterion is based on making equal the two exponential decays of the step response. Including slew-rate effects, a useful design strategy for the design of three-stage operational transconductance amplifier is provided. Extensive time-domain simulations on a transistor-level design in a 65-nm CMOS process confirm the validity of the proposed approach.
In this paper, a high gain structure of operational transconductance amplifier is presented. For low voltage operation with improved frequency response bulk driven quasi-floating gate MOSFET is used at the input. Further for achieving high gain the modified self cascode structure is used at the output. Compared to conventional self cascode the modified self cascode structure used provides higher transconductance which helps in significant boosting of gain of the amplifier. The modification is achieved by employing quasi-floating gate transistor which helps in scaling of the threshold which as a result increases the drain-to-source voltage of linear mode transistor thus changing it to saturation. This change of mode boosts the effective transconductance of self cascode MOSFET. The proposed operational transconductance amplifier when compared to its conventional showed improvement in DC gain by 30dB and also the unity gain bandwidth increases by 6 fold. The MOS models used for amplifier design are of 0.18µm CMOS technology at supply of 0.5V.
Efficient Design Strategy for Optimizing the Settling Time in Three-Stage Amplifiers Including Small- and Large-Signal Behavior