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Article
Publication date: 16 June 2021

Kulbhushan Sharma, Anisha Pathania, Jaya Madan, Rahul Pandey and Rajnish Sharma

Adoption of integrated MOS based pseudo-resistor (PR) structures instead of using off-chip passive poly resistors for analog circuits in complementary metal oxide semiconductor…

Abstract

Purpose

Adoption of integrated MOS based pseudo-resistor (PR) structures instead of using off-chip passive poly resistors for analog circuits in complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology (CMOS) is an area-efficient way for realizing larger time constants. However, issue of common-mode voltage shifting and excess dependency on the process and temperature variations introduce nonlinearity in such structures. So there is dire need to not only closely look for the origin of the problem with the help of a thorough mathematical analysis but also suggest the most suitable PR structure for the purpose catering broadly to biomedical analog circuit applications.

Design/methodology/approach

In this work, incremental resistance (IR) expressions and IR range for balanced PR (BPR) structures operating in the subthreshold region have been closely analyzed for broader range of process-voltage-temperature variations. All the post-layout simulations have been obtained using BSIM3V3 device models in 0.18 µm standard CMOS process.

Findings

The obtained results show that the pertinent problem of common-mode voltage shifting in such PR structures is completely resolved in scaled gate linearization and bulk-driven quasi-floating gate (BDQFG) BPR structures. Among all BPR structures, BDQFG BPR remarkably shows constant IR value of 1 TΩ over −1 V to 1 V voltage swing for wider process and temperature variations.

Research limitations/implications

Various balanced PR design techniques reported in this work will help the research community in implementing larger time constants for analog-mixed signal circuits.

Social implications

The PR design techniques presented in the present piece of work is expected to be used in developing tunable and accurate biomedical prosthetics.

Originality/value

The BPR structures thoroughly analyzed and reported in this work may be useful in the design of analog circuits specifically for applications such as neural signal recording, cardiac electrical impedance tomography and other low-frequency biomedical applications.

Details

Circuit World, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0305-6120

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2005

Radhalakshmi Ramakrishnan and Maqsood A. Chaudhry

In this paper, we study the effect on the performance of a single supply low voltage operational amplifier due to such a mismatch.

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, we study the effect on the performance of a single supply low voltage operational amplifier due to such a mismatch.

Design/methodology/approach

We start with a given set of specifications and design a MOSFET based operational amplifier meeting those specifications. We then compute various parameters of the operational amplifier using PSPICE to verify that the amplifier meets the specifications. We create mismatch in three characteristics of differential pair MOSFETs: zero biased threshold voltage (Vth0), channel length (L) and process transconductance parameter (K). The effect of the mismatch on two performance parameters: (a) differential mode gain and (b) output DC voltage is then studied.

Findings

The effects of mismatch in MOSFET characteristics on the performance of single supply low voltage operational amplifiers are studied. Circuit designers can use the results to design operational amplifiers and other analog circuits to minimize the effects of such a mismatch on the performance of their circuits. In some cases, such a mismatch may even be desirable to obtain a desired performance from the circuit.

Practical implications

Circuit designers can use the results to design operational amplifiers and other analog circuits to minimize the effects of such a mismatch on the performance of their circuits.

Originality/value

Effect of mismatch of the transistor characteristics on the performance of circuits rarely reported in literature. This study is presented to aid circuit designers in designing circuits with enhanced performance.

Details

Microelectronics International, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-5362

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 December 2022

Xuebing Su, Yang Wang, Xiangliang Jin, Hongjiao Yang, Yuye Zhang, Shuaikang Yang and Bo Yu

As it is known, the electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection design of integrated circuit is very important, among which the silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) is one of the most…

Abstract

Purpose

As it is known, the electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection design of integrated circuit is very important, among which the silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) is one of the most commonly used ESD protection devices. However, the traditional SCR has the disadvantages of too high trigger voltage, too low holding voltage after the snapback and longer turn-on time. The purpose of this paper is to design a high-performance SCR in accordance with the design window under 0.25 µm process, and provide a new scheme for SCR design to reduce the trigger voltage, improve the holding voltage and reduce the turn-on time.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the traditional SCR, an RC-INV trigger circuit is introduced. Through theoretical analysis, TCAD simulation and tape-out verification, it is shown that RC-INV triggering SCR can reduce the trigger voltage, increase the holding voltage and reduce the turn-on time of the device on the premise of maintaining good robustness.

Findings

The RC-INV triggering SCR has great performance, and the test shows that the transmission line pulse curve with almost no snapback can be obtained. Compared with the traditional SCR, the trigger voltage decreased from 32.39 to 16.24 V, the holding voltage increased from 3.12 to 14.18 V and the turn-on time decreased from 29.6 to 16.6 ns, decreasing by 43.9% the level of human body model reached 18 kV+.

Originality/value

Under 0.25 µm BCD process, this study propose a high-performance RC-INV triggering SCR ESD protection device. The work presented in this paper has a certain guiding significance for the design of SCR ESD protection devices.

Details

Microelectronics International, vol. 41 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-5362

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2017

Neil Naudé and Saurabh Sinha

This work aims to improve upon the linearity of integrated CMOS current sensors used in switch mode power supply topologies, using a low-cost and low-voltage (less than 1.2 V…

Abstract

Purpose

This work aims to improve upon the linearity of integrated CMOS current sensors used in switch mode power supply topologies, using a low-cost and low-voltage (less than 1.2 V) CMOS technology node. Improved sensor accuracy contributes to efficiency in switched supplies by reducing measurement errors when it is integrated with closed-loop control.

Design/methodology/approach

Integrated current-sensing methods were investigated and CMOS solutions were prioritized. These solutions were implemented and characterized in the desired process and shortcomings were identified. A theoretical analysis accompanied by simulated tests was used to refine improvements which were prototyped. The current sensor prototypes were fabricated and tested.

Findings

Measured and simulated results are presented which show improved linearity in current sensor outputs. Techniques borrowed from analog amplifier design can be used to improve the dynamic range and linearity of current-steered CMOS pairs for measuring current. A current sensor with a gain of 5 V/A operating in a 10 MHz switch mode supply environment is demonstrated.

Originality/value

This paper proposes an alternative approach to creating suitable bias conditions for linearity in a SenseFET topology. The proposed method is compact and architecturally simple in comparison to other techniques.

Details

Microelectronics International, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-5362

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 March 2018

Hadi Dehbovid, Habib Adarang and Mohammad Bagher Tavakoli

Charge pump phase locked loops (CPPLLs) are nonlinear systems as a result of the nonlinear behavior of voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO). This paper aims to specify jitter…

Abstract

Purpose

Charge pump phase locked loops (CPPLLs) are nonlinear systems as a result of the nonlinear behavior of voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO). This paper aims to specify jitter generation of voltage controlled oscillator phase noise in CPPLLs, by considering approximated practical model for VCO.

Design/methodology/approach

CPPLL, in practice, shows nonlinear behavior, and usually in LC-VCOs, it follows second-degree polynomial function behavior. Therefore, the nonlinear differential equation of the system is obtained which shows the CPPLLs are a nonlinear system with memory, and that Volterra series expansion is useful for such systems.

Findings

In this paper, by considering approximated practical model for VCO, jitter generation of voltage controlled oscillator phase noise in CPPLLs is specified. Behavioral simulation is used to validate the analytical results. The results show a suitable agreement between analytical equations and simulation results.

Originality/value

The proposed method in this paper has two advantages over the conventional design and analysis methods. First, in contrast to an ideal CPPLL, in which the characteristic of the VCO’s output frequency based on the control voltage is linear, in the present paper, a nonlinear behavior was considered for this characteristic in accordance with the real situations. Besides, regarding the simulations in this paper, a behavior similar to the second-degree polynomial was considered, which caused the dependence of the produced jitter’s characteristic corner frequency on the jitter’s amplitude. Second, some new nonlinear differential equations were proposed for the system, which ensured the calculation of the produced jitter of the VCO phase noise in CPPLLs. The presented method is general enough to be used for designing the CPPLL.

Details

COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0332-1649

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 September 2020

Norhamizah Idros, Zulfiqar Ali Abdul Aziz and Jagadheswaran Rajendran

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…

Abstract

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.

Details

Microelectronics International, vol. 37 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-5362

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2006

S.S. Rajput and S.S. Jamuar

To provide new structures and applications of CCII for analog signal processing.

Abstract

Purpose

To provide new structures and applications of CCII for analog signal processing.

Design/methodology/approach

New structure and new applications suitable for low voltage analog signal processing.

Findings

These structures developed for CCII can be used in development for future low voltage applications.

Research limitations/implications

Structures cannot be realized due to unavailability of funding at place of research.

Practical implications

Can be useful information for future low voltage analog designs.

Originality/value

The paper presents new ideas for CCII applications.

Details

Microelectronics International, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-5362

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 April 2022

Zuanbo Zhou, Wenxin Yu, Junnian Wang, Yanming Zhao and Meiting Liu

With the development of integrated circuit and communication technology, digital secure communication has become a research hotspot. This paper aims to design a five-dimensional…

Abstract

Purpose

With the development of integrated circuit and communication technology, digital secure communication has become a research hotspot. This paper aims to design a five-dimensional fractional-order chaotic secure communication circuit with sliding mode synchronous based on microcontroller (MCU).

Design/methodology/approach

First, a five-dimensional fractional-order chaotic system for encryption is constructed. The approximate numerical solution of fractional-order chaotic system is calculated by Adomian decomposition method, and the phase diagram is obtained. Then, combined with the complexity and 0–1 test algorithm, the parameters of fractional-order chaotic system for encryption are selected. In addition, a sliding mode controller based on the new reaching law is constructed, and its stability is proved. The chaotic system can be synchronized in a short time by using sliding mode control synchronization.

Findings

The electronic circuit is implemented to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the designed scheme.

Originality/value

It is feasible to realize fractional-order chaotic secure communication using MCU, and further reducing the synchronization error is the focus of future work.

Details

Circuit World, vol. 49 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0305-6120

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 July 2008

A. Marzuki, Zaliman Sauli, Ali Yeon and Shakaff

The purpose of this paper is to design a voltage reference circuit for current source of radio frequency integrated circuit blocks. The voltage reference circuit is called voltage…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to design a voltage reference circuit for current source of radio frequency integrated circuit blocks. The voltage reference circuit is called voltage for current source (VCS).

Design/methodology/approach

The circuit concept is discussed. A voltage‐controlled oscillator (VCO) and buffer circuit together with VCS circuit are built to prove the concept. Though the VCS circuit employs no array of diode like standard bandgap circuit, it still employs the concept of proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) and a complement to absolute temperature (CTAT) elements. The integrated VCO, together with VCO core and VCO buffer circuits, are designed for W‐CDMA application particularly for the demodulator section. All circuits are built in fT=45 GHz SiGe BiCMOS process.

Findings

At 760 MHz the power consumption for core circuit is 0.6 and 3.3 mA for VCO buffer amplifier. The fabricated VCO circuit together with VCO buffer was tested and measured with VCO output of −6 dBm at 760 MHz with variation of 0.1 dBm across −40°C to 85°C.

Originality/value

A voltage reference circuit which is derived from PTAT and CTAT current generators is presented. The circuit is capable of providing a constant current across absolute temperature or a current PTAT.

Details

Microelectronics International, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-5362

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2018

Hyung-won Kim, Hyeim Jeong, Junho Yu, Chan-Soo Lee and Nam-Soo Kim

This paper aims to propose a low-power complementary MOS (CMOS) current sensor for control circuit in an integrated DC-DC buck converter.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a low-power complementary MOS (CMOS) current sensor for control circuit in an integrated DC-DC buck converter.

Design/methodology/approach

The integrated DC-DC converter, which is composed of feedback control circuit and power block, is designed with 0.35-µm CMOS process. Current sensor in the control circuit is integrated with sense-FET and voltage-follower circuits to reduce power consumption and improve its sensing accuracy. In the current-sensing circuit, the size ratio of the power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) to the sensing transistor (K) is 1,000, and a current-mirror is used for a voltage follower. N-channel MOS acts as a switching device in the current-sensing circuit, where the sensing FET is in parallel with the power MOSFET. The amplifier and comparator are designed to obtain a high gain and a fast transient time.

Findings

Experiment shows that the current sensor is operated with accuracy of more than 85 per cent, and the transient time of the error amplifier is controlled within 100 µs. The sensing current is in the range of a few hundred µA at a frequency of 0.6-2 MHz and an input voltage of 3-5 V. The output voltage is obtained as expected with the ripple ratio within 5 per cent.

Originality/value

The proposed current sensor in DC-DC converter provides an accurately sensed inductor current with a significant reduction in power consumption in the range of 0.2 mW. High-accuracy regulation is obtained using the proposed current sensor. As the sensor utilizes simple switch-type voltage follower and sense-FET, it can be widely applied to other low-power applications such as high-frequency oscillator and over-current protection circuit.

Details

Microelectronics International, vol. 35 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-5362

Keywords

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