ALP_Rotondaro EE5321/EE7321

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EE5321/EE7321
Semiconductor Devices and Circuits
Current Sources
Part 1
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Current Sources
In nearly all circuits that we have studied the
implementation of a current source to bias the
circuit resulted in improvement of circuit
characteristics
Good current and voltage sources are a key asset on
the design of analog circuits
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Current source: Features
Features of current source:
A well controlled current
The supplied current does not depend on the voltage
across the current source.
This means that it is desirable for the current source to
have a HIGH internal resistance
Ideal I-V characteristics
Equivalent Circuit Model
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Current source: Ideal vs Real
Ideal Current source Rs !
Real Current source Rs has a finite value
Rs
Rs
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Current source: Biased MOSFET
A MOSFET biased with a known gate voltage can
behave as a current source

I
DS
=

n
C
ox
2

W
L
V
bias
- V
TH ( )
2

V
bias
=
R
2
R
1
+R
2
V
DD
Area consumption with R
1
and R
2
I
DS
variation with device parms
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Current source: Need for Voltage ref
Desired features:
A well controlled voltage
The voltage does not depend on the current drawn. This
means LOW internal resistance
Ideal I-V characteristics
Equivalent circuit model
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Voltage source: MOS in diode config
The MOSFET is connected that: V
GS
= V
DS
Beyond V
TH
the device has a quadratic I-V characteristics

I
DS
=

n
C
ox
W
2 L
V
GS
- V
TH ( )
2
=

n
C
ox
W
2 L
V
DS
- V
TH ( )
2
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Voltage source: MOS in diode config
For V
D
> V
TH
the MOSFET is always in saturation
The Bipolar diode has a closer to ideal behavior
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Voltage source: How to synthesize it?
Assuming that a current source, I
REF
, is available
V
GS
= V
DS
assumes value to have i
D
I
D
= I
REF
+ i
out
V
GS
= v
out

i
out
=

n
C
ox
W
2 L
v
out
- V
TH ( )
2
- I
REF

v
out
=V
TH
+
I
REF
+i
out
W
2L

n
C
ox
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Voltage source: Trade-offs
The output voltage, v
out
, is a function of I
REF
and
W/L of the MOSFET
I
REF
! v
out

W/L ! v
out

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Voltage source: small signal
Body connected to ground and source to ground
! No body effect (g
mb
= 0)

R
out
=
1
g
m
|| r
o

1
g
m
! R
out
is small (good!!!)
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Voltage source: PMOS implementation
It has the same operation and characteristics as
the NMOS voltage source. However:
g
m,PMOS
< g
m,NMOS
for the same W/L
Need to compensate by using bigger W/L
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Voltage source: equivalent resistance
It is important to pay attention to the method to
calculate the resistance of the voltage source
If the bias point is used in a simplified way:
R
DC
= V
DS
/ I
D
which is a value much larger than the small
signal determined resistance that more accurately
describes the circuit
R
AC
= 1/g
m
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Voltage source: Bias from supply
I
D1
= I
D2
if i
out
! 0
Defining:

N
=

n
C
ox
W
N
2 L
N

P
=

p
C
ox
W
P
2 L
P

N
V
bias
- V
TN ( )
2
=
P
V
DD
- V
bias
- V
TP ( )
2

V
bias
=
V
TN
+

P

N
V
DD
- V
TP
( )
1+

P

N
Use ratio to design V
bias
Use
N
to design I
D
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Voltage source: Bias from I
bias
V
bias
= V
GS1
+ V
GS2
Design
1
and
2
to yield the desired
value of V
bias
Notice that V
T1
and V
T2
might
differ due to body effect on M1
Try to keep W/L values close to
unit to minimize area

V
bias
=
2 I
bias

1
+V
T1
+
2 I
bias

2
+V
T2
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Homework: Calculate r
ac
Assuming:
W/L = 10
V
To
= 0.7V

n
C
ox
= 110 A/V
2
= 0.4 V
1/2
= 0.04 V
-1
2|
F
| = 0.7 V
V
BS
is not known. The value of V
TH
is an unknown
Initially, body effect is ignored and V
To
is used to
calculate V
GS1
. This value is used to calculate the
initial value of V
BS1
and V
TH1
. Iterate if necessary.
vac
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References
Gray: 4.1; 4.2.1; 4.2.2.2; 4.2.3.2; 4.2.4.2; 4.2.5.2;
4.2.6.2; 4.3.1; 4.3.4; 4.3.5