Project #2: Design of an Operational Amplifier By: Adrian Ildefonso Nedeljko Karaulac I have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this project. Process: Baker s 50nm CAD Tool: Cadence Virtuoso 1 Topology Selection: Input Input topology decided by ICMR (0.2 1V) for a supply voltage of 1.2V Use folded cascode topology for high input swing PMOS folded cascode (shown in figure): V in,min = V OVN V THP V SS = -210mV V in,max = V DD 2V OVP V THN = 780mV NMOS version would have the same limitation on the minimum input voltage Paul R. Gray and Robert G. Meyer. 1990. Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, USA. Solution:Use parallel NMOS and PMOS folded cascode differential pair for the input stage. 2
MG1 Topology Selection: Output Output topology decided by output swing (0.2 1V) Low output resistance is desirable Class AB Source follower buffer (shown in Figure) V out,min = 2V OV +V THP V SS = 420mV V in,max = V DD 2V OV V THN = 780mV Must use class AB Push-Pull amplifier, which will also be a second gain stage Paul R. Gray and Robert G. Meyer. 1990. Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, USA. 3 Selected Topology Selected Topology: Input: Parallel NMOS and PMOS Folded Cascode Output/Second Stage: Push-Pull Amplifier Benefits Rail to Rail input High Swing output Higher Gain Drawbacks Gain is not constant across input range (not an issue due to high open loop gain) Gain highly dependent on resistive load Added power consumption due to parallel differential amplifier 4
MG2 Design For SR of 120V/us IT = SR*C L = 120 ua Current in cascode branch is 1.2 1.5 times the tail current For parallel differential pairs (required to meet ICMR), we need more than, which is over the required power After literature review, no circuit was found (in research or industry) that meets all the criteria for this project. We decided to sacrifice SR and BW in order to save power Tail current chosen: 40 ua This means that our SR should be around 40 V/us 5 Design Because we are no longer concerned with ICMR, we can choose any overdrive voltage for the input differential pair. Let s choose 50mV to obtain higher gm. This would require W/L of NMOS input pairs to be around 150/2 = 7.5u/100n and PMOS to be 300/2 = 15u/100n Cascode transistors were chosen to conduct 1.3 times current in one side of the differential pair to prevent them from turning on. 6
Design Output stage is a push pull amplifier, sized to conduct 20uA Cascode device was added to increase output resistance and gain Compensation capacitor was added before the cascode device to use the cascode as a buffer This helped greatly with the frequency response of the amplifier but did not remove the RHPZ Resulted in bigger compensation capacitor because now the miller capacitance is in series with the CDS of the cascode device, reducing the effective capacitance Zero nulling resistor was added to remove RHPZ 7 Reference Schematic Used topology in Baker s Figure 20.47 Resistor value changed to obtain desired currents 8
MG3 Amplifier Schematic Cascode tail currents to increase CMRR Note these devices are 1.3 time the size of the tail current sources. Also true for NMOS at the bottom Note cascode output to increase gain and output resistance. This requires complementary compensation as shown Complementary Folded Cascode Differential Pair Push/Pull Output Stage 9 MG4 MG5 Simulation Test benches Inductor in feedback Open Loop Gain: Frequency sweep at input A CM : Frequency sweep with shorted inputs Note: Infinitely large inductor is used to act as a short in DC but open in AC. It allows for Cadence to calculate the DC operating point correctly. Buffer configuration ICMR:DC sweep from -0.2 to 1.4 SR: Step from 0.1 to 1.1 V THD: 1kHz Sine wave covering full output swing Non-inverting Amplifier Output Swing:Sweep input from -0.2 to 1.4 and see where output saturates Note: iprobe acts as a short in DC but open in AC. This is the same as using an infinitely large inductor, and the same simulation values were obtained. Inductor was used in Open Loop Gain because it was easier to simulate CMRR. AC sources on supply PSRR: Sweep frequency at VDD and GND. iprobe in feedback Noise: Perform noise analysis on Cadence 10
Open Loop Response Nam Vis 3d Phase (deg) Open Loop Gain (db) 18 135.0 9 45.0-45.0-9 -135.0-18 -225.0-27 -315.0-36 100 8 6 4 2-2 -4-6 -8-100 DC Gain 179.9968deg 80.22635dB 77.22662dB 3dB Frequency 134.8967deg 35.4858udB Unity Gain 45.86191deg 10 0 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 10 5 10 6 10 7 10 8 10 9 10 10 Frequency (Hz) 11 Input and Output Swing 1.25 Min Input: (55.929347mV, 99m) 1.25 1.0 1.0 Vout (Buffer) (V).75.5.25 Max Input: (1.1597325V, 99m).75.5.25 dvout/ dvin Vout (Non-Inverting Amplifier, A = 10) (V) -.25 1.25 1.0.75.5.25 -.25 Max Output: 1.0756326V Min Output: 58.881285mV -.25.25.5.75 Vin (V) -.25 12.5 1 7.5 5.0 2.5-2.5 1.0 1.25 1.5 dvout/ dvin 12
Transient Response M6: 1.1595978us 1.0985998V 1.0 M3: 1.5042119us 1.0001732V M1: 1.0202096us 1.0V.75 Voltage (V).5.25 M2: 1.0024586us 199.78604mV M4: 1.5279524us 200.41284mV M5: 1.6098323us 100.21264m 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Time (us) 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 13 PSRR -2 V1-3 PSRR - VDD (db) -4-5 -6-64.79598dB -7-1 PSRR - GND (db) -2-3 -4-21.762635dB -5 10 0 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 10 5 10 6 10 7 10 8 10 9 10 10 freq (Hz) 14
Noise 15 MG6 Spec Summary Differential amplifier topology Spec Target Achieved 16 N/A ParallelFolded Cascode Reference topology N/A Baker 50 nm Supply (V) 1.2 1.2 Loading (pf kohm) 1 100 1 100 Differential Gain (db) 80 80.23 CMRR (db) 120 94.76 ICMR (V) 0.2-1 56m 1.16 Output Swing (V) 0.1-1.1 59m 1.08 Bandwidth - 3dB (khz) (Loaded/Unloaded) 100 18.47 / 1.69 Gainbandwidth product (MHz) N/A 76.4 Compensation capacitor (pf) N/A See schematic Phase margin (degrees) 45 45.86 Gain of differential amplifier (db) N/A 47.7 Max Power consumption (uw) (Loaded/Unloaded) (Buffer Configuration) 200 178.4 / 173.5 Reference power consumption (uw) N/A 93.4 OpAmp power consumption with zero input (uw) (Buffer Configuration) N/A 178.4 Total power consumption (uw) N/A 271.8 Slew Rate (V/us) (Positive/Negative) 120 / -120 40 / -34.7
Spec Summary Cont d Spec Target Achieved Supply Voltage (V)(Maximum/Minimum) N/A 0.55/ 3.06 Nominal output voltage (V) N/A 0.6 Input offset voltage (mv) N/A -12 Rise/Fall time (ns)(to 90% of final value) N/A 20/ 23 Settling time (ns)(rising/ Falling Edge) N/A 160 / 109 RMS Input referred noise (V)(1 Hz 100MHz)(Simulated in open loop) N/A 7.51 n THD for full swing output (%)(Simulated in Buffer mode) N/A 1.165 % 17 How to improve design? To improve CMRR, make tail current sources longer to increase R Tail To improve SR, increase tail current and current at output stage. Ideally a buffer should be used for the output, but implementation of high-swing low impedance buffer is difficult. Using a buffer would make gain and bandwidth independent of loading MG7 Use advanced compensation techniques, such as those shown in the references, to reduce capacitor size and increase phase margin Better match currents in PMOS and NMOS differential pairs to reduce offset voltage. This can be done by selecting a different overdrive voltage for the input devices so that the tail current sources have a V DS that results in better current matching. Constant gm amplifier might also reduce this offset. 18
Conclusion Completed design of two stage operational amplifier Opted for low power operation instead of high speed (SR and Bandwidth) Parallel input differential pairs were necessary to meet ICMR requirements Push pull amplifier was needed to meet output swing requirements. Cascode devices were added to increase the gain and output resistance. However, buffer should be used for the output Design could be improved with relaxed power specifications 19 References R. Jacob Baker. 2010. CMOS Circuit Design, Layout, and Simulation (3rd ed.). Wiley- IEEE Press. Paul R. Gray and Robert G. Meyer. 1990. Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, USA. Grasso, A.D.; Palumbo, G.; Pennisi, S., "Comparison of the Frequency Compensation Techniques for CMOS Two-Stage Miller OTAs," Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, IEEE Transactions on, vol.55, no.11, pp.1099,1103, Nov. 2008 http://www.eit.uni-kl.de/koenig/deutsch/tesys_lutgen_09.pdf http://www.ece.tamu.edu/~spalermo/ecen474/lecture14_ee474_folded_cascode_ota.pdf http://www.ijser.org/researchpaper%5cdesign-of-high-gain-folded-cascode- OPERATIONAL-AMPLIFIER-USING-1.25-M-CMOS-TECHNOLOGY.pdf http://www.aicdesign.org/scnotes/2010notes/lect2up250_%28100328%29.pdf 20