The current differencing transconductance

amplifier (CDTA)
Jun Xu and Chunhua Wang - January 28, 2013

Editors note: Most modern designs have been using voltage mode elements like op-amps for
implementation of various electronic circuits. These elements are used widely due to their small
sizes and good performance. With the demand for portable battery powered equipment increasing,
designers have begun to look into different architectures to fit these demanding designs. This issue
is not easily solved with voltage mode elements since the voltage supply if reduced will cause
problems with realizing good, fully-functional circuits. Instead, current mode (CM) elements are now
being considered for the same circuits and these issues can then be addressed.
The Current Differencing Transconductance Amplifier (CDTA) is the active element operating in
current-mode and can be applied to various circuits such as comparators, second order high pass,
second order low pass, second order band pass filters.
This article outlines a design method for CDTA-based resistor-less current-mode full balanced nthorder leapfrog ladder filter is presented. Second, circuit devices parameters confirmation for actual
design are analyzed in detail. Further, PSpice simulation for an actual 6th-order butterworth filter is
conducted, and the result verifies the validity of the proposed circuits.
A new method for design of resistorless current-mode full balanced nth-order leapfrog ladder filter
using CDTA as active component is proposed in the paper. The proposed circuit, which adopts only n
active components and n grounded capacitors, can realize n-order filters function and shares simple
configuration, low power consumption. It contains minimum component and doesnt use any resistor.
The proposed filter can be applied in many fields: for instance, RF transmitter/receiver, phase-locked
loop FM demodulator, wireless communication and instrumentation. In order to demonstrate the
validity of the proposed circuit, PSpice simulation for actual 6th-order butterworth filter is
conducted, and the result has good agreement with the theoretical analysis.
Introduction
1. Introduction
Filters are employed in many applications such as in a radio-frequency (RF) filter for image rejection
or in an intermediate-frequency (IF) filter for channel selection of a RF or wireless receiver.
Amongon-chip RF filter mainly applies switched capacitors (SC) or continuous-time (CT) structure,
especially for continuous-time current-mode techniques.
During the past few years, comparing with voltage-mode techniques, current-mode techniques have
been received a wide attention due to its high slew rate, wide bandwidth, low voltage and low power

consumption etc. A number of current-mode devices, such as CCII, CFA, OTA, have been widely
applied in circuit design.
Recently, a new current-mode active element with two current inputs and two kinds of current
output, which is called a current differencing transconductance amplier (CDTA), has been
introduced [1].The CDTA is a current mode device of real sense and offers wider frequency
bandwidth advantages as compared to its close relative, the current differencing buffered amplifier (
CDBA) [2]. So some CDTA-based current-mode circuit has been widely proposed, such as inductance
simulator circuits [4-6], sinusoidal oscillator circuits[7-8]and it especially is a promising choice for
realizing the current-mode filters[9-20].
Obviously, from the reported filter circuits, researches on high-order filter are not adequate
apparently [1, 21-25], especially in CDTA-based nth-order filter [23-24]. Literatures [21-22] propose
two kinds of nth-order current-mode filter using CDBA. On the basis of analyzing signal flow diagram,
the proposed circuit, which uses CDBAs, capacitors resistances, can realize high order filters
function. Literatures [23-24] propose two kinds of CDTA-based nth-order filter independently.
The circuit [23] can realize nth-order lowpass filters function and shares simple structure, grounded
capacitors. Literature [24] proposes a design method of nth-order filter circuit. This method has
relatively strong versatility in high-order filter design. However, most of above these circuits [1, 2125] dont take full advantage of the active components port characteristics and limit the flexibility of
components usage.
Then these circuits structure is too complicated and involves too many components, especially for
passive resistor. Such as circuits [1, 21-25] require some external passive resistors and more CDTAs
are also used in circuit [24, 25]. Adopting excessive resistor can be a disadvantage of current-mode
circuit, which is not beneficial to integrated circuit (IC) fabrication and circuits frequency
bandwidth.
Generally speaking, design method of high-order filter is mainly based on cascading second-order
filter and signal flow diagram (negative feedback). Among leapfrog simulation of the current-mode
ladder network is to use combinations of active and passive components in order to simulate either
the inductances or the operation of a high-order LC ladder. The leapfrog structure is one of the most
popular choices in active lter design due to its lower sensitivity than the cascade method ,1] .[25
Thus, a new method for design of resistorless current-mode full balanced nth-order leapfrog ladder
filter using CDTA as active component is proposed in the paper. The proposed circuit, which adopts
only n active components and n capacitors, can realize n-order filters function and shares simple
configuration. It contains minimum active component and passive component. So the circuits share
low power consumption.
The circuit adopts grounded capacitor and doesnt use any resistor, which is convenient for
integrated circuit (IC) fabrication. It is also easy to confirm the parametric values of the elements
from the coefcients of the transfer function. The proposed filter can be applied in many fields: for
instance, RF transmitter/receiver, phase-locked loop FM demodulator, wireless communication and
instrumentation. It also can be used in practice for the design of active lter instead of surface
acoustic wave (SAW) lter used in GSM systems. In order to demonstrate the validity of the
proposed circuit, PSpice simulation for an actual 6th-order butterworth filter is conducted, and the
result has good agreement with the theoretical analysis. Current Differencing Transconductance
Amplier (CDTA) and its realization

.2 Current Differencing Transconductance Amplier (CDTA) and its realization

The circuit symbol of the CDTA is shown in Fig.1, where p and n are positive and negative current
input terminals, z and x are current output terminals. Its current characteristics can be described
by the following matrix Eq. (1).

Fig.1. Symbol for the CDTA

Where Vx=Iz*Zz, gm is the transconductance gain, and Zz is an external impedance connected at
the terminal z. According to above expression, the current through the terminal z follows the
difference of the currents through the terminals p and n (Ip - In), and flows from the terminal z into
an impedance Zz. The voltage drop at the terminal z is transferred to a current at the terminal x (Ix)
by gm, which is electronically controllable by an external bias current (IB).
Usually, it can be constructed using various techniques, one possible CMOS-based CDTA circuit
realization [18] suitable for the monolithic IC fabrication is given in Fig.2. It is also easy to know that
the transconductance stage can be copied in a circuit, so the number of x port of the CDTA can be
chosen a reasonably as actual needed.

Fig.2.

Realization circuit of CMOS-based CDTA

3. Design method of current-mode nth-order leapfrog ladder filter

3.1 Design of CDTA-based integral circuit
Integrator is the basic unit of the filter circuits composition. Generally speaking, first-order
integrator can be divided into two categories: lossless integrator and lossy integrator. CDTA-based
lossless and lossy integral circuits are designed in Fig.3.

Fig.3 (a)

Fig.3 (b)

Fig.3 (a). CDTA-based lossless integrator circuit

Fig.3 (b). CDTA-based lossy integrator circuit
From Fig.2, CDTA-based lossless and lossy integrator circuit transfer function can be written in Eqs
(2), (3):

(2)

(3)
3.2 Analysis and derivation of the proposed circuit
In order to research current-mode leapfrog ladder filters circuit configuration, design methods and
keep circuit designs generality, a current-mode nth-order all pole passive LC lowpass filter network
is chosen in Fig.4:

Fig.4. Current-mode nth-order passive LC ladder network

Its node equations are:

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)
In order to use the current variable function to represent the above Eqs (4) to (7), the above voltage
variables are divided by the resistance Ro (conversion factor). So circuits current variable equations
are written in Eqs (8) to (11):

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

Assuming:

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)
According to Eqs (8) to (15), circuits signal flow diagram can be shown in Fig.5.
From Fig.3 and Fig.5, the proposed CDTA-based current-mode nth-order leapfrog ladder filter can
be obtained as shown in Fig.6.
The proposed circuit of simple structure adopts n active components, n grounded capacitors and
doesnt use any resistor, which is convenient for integrated circuit (IC) fabrication.
3.3 Calculation of circuits parameter
Assuming
(16)
Comparing Eqs (2), (3), (12) to (15), it is easy to get the components parameters relationship of the
circuits shown in Fig.4 and in Fig.6.

(17)

Then
When

(18)
i = 2, 4, K, n - 2,

(19)

Then
When

(20)

i = 3, 5, K, n - 1,

(21)

Fig.5. signal flow diagram of current-mode nth-order passive LC ladder network

Fig.6. Proposed CDTA-based resistorless current-mode full balanced nth-order leapfrog

ladder filter

Then

(22)

(23)

Then

(24)

So synthesizing Eqs (17) to (24),

When i = 1, 3, K, n - 1
(25)
When

i = 2, 4, K, n

(26)
It is easy to confirm the parametric values of the elements from the known filters parameters. It is
also apparent that the cutoff angular frequency (o) of filter can be adjusted properly by IB.
Simulation and result
4. Simulation and result
To verify the theoretical analysis, a current-mode 6th-order butterworth filter according to the
proposed conguration is simulated in PSpice circuit simulation program using the CMOS-based
CDTA circuit given in Fig. 2. The filter circuit is shown in Fig.7. And it is simulated with the
parameters of the 0.5m MIETEC transistor model.
The 6th-order butterworth lters [26] cutoff frequency is 10MHz and the passive components
parameters are: C1=0.824pF, L2=0.225mH, C3=3.076 pF, L4=0.307mH, C5=2.25pF,
L6=0.082mH. Here, the CDTA circuit is supplied with symmetrical voltages of 2.5V. The external
bias current are IB1 = IB2= 85A, IB3= 200A and the transconductance gain gmi is 457.83S.
It is easy to get the value of Ci from above parameters, C1 =3.77pF, C2 =10.3pF, C3 =14.08pF, C4
=14.08pF, C5 =10.3pF, C6 =3.77pF. Fig.8 shows the simulation results. It is noted that the
theoretical and simulation results are in good agreement. The circuits total power consumption is
low, it is 0.02W.

Fig.7. Proposed CDTA-based resistorless current-mode full balanced 6th-order leapfrog

ladder filter

Fig.8. Frequency responses of the proposed filter and actual filter

Fig.9, 10 shows the transient response of the proposed filter. Input signal is a square waveforms
current (2A/100kHz) and a sinusoidal current (100A/1MHz) in this simulation. The switching
delay time of the filter is approximately 0.4s. The filter circuits total harmonic distortion (THD)
analysis is also investigated using PSPICE program (sinusoidal current at 1MHz). It is found in
Fig.11 that for an input current signal less than 300A amplitude, circuits THD is no more than 2%.

Fig.9. Square waveforms transient response of proposed filter

Fig.10. The sinusoidal waveforms transient response of proposed filter

Fig.11. Common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of the lter

Fig.12. Total harmonic distortion of the lter

5. Conclusion
In this paper, a new method for design of resistorless current-mode full balanced nth-order leapfrog
ladder filter using CDTA is proposed in the paper. The proposed circuit, which adopts only n active
components and n capacitors, can realize nth-order filters function and shares simple configuration,
low power consumption. It contains minimum active component and passive component.
The circuit adopts grounded capacitor and doesnt use any resistor. It is also easy to confirm the
parametric values of the elements from the coefcients of the transfer function. PSpice simulation
for an actual 6th-order butterworth filter is conducted, and the result has good agreement with the
theoretical analysis.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China for financially
supporting this research under No. 61274020 and the Open Fund Project of Key Laboratory in
Hunan Universities under No. 12K011 and the Project supported by Hunan Provincial Natural
Science Foundation of China under No.11JJ6055.

References
References
1 D. Biolek. "CDTA - Building block for current-mode analog signal processing" Proceedings of the
European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design 2003 - ECCTD'03, Krakow, Poland (2003) 397400.
2 Acar C, Ozoguz S. A new versatile building block: current differencing buffered amplier suitable
for analog signal processing lters. Microelectron J 30 (1999) 157160.
3 Yushang Zhao, yueqing Zhou, ping Wang, Electronic circuit of current-mode. Tianjing University
Press, 2001.
4 Winai Jaikla, Montree Siripruchyanan. Current controlled CDTA (CCCDTA) based- novel floating
and grounded inductance simulators. Communications and Information Technologies (2006) 348--.
5 Montree Siripruchyanun,winai Jaikla. CMOS current-controlled current differencing
transconductance amplier and applications to analog signal processing. Int. J. Electron. Commun. )
AE), 62 (2008) 277 287.cessing circuits. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 61 (2009) 247257.
7 Tangsrirat W, et al. Current-mode multiphase sinusoidal oscillator using CDTA-based allpass
sections. Int J Electron Commun (AEU) (2008), doi: 10.1016/j.aeue.2008.05.001
8 A.u.keskin, D.biolek. Current mode quadrature oscillator using current differencing
transconductance ampliers (CDTA). IEE Proc.-Circuits Devices Syst, 153 (2006) 248-252.
9 Montree Siripruchyanun, Winai Jaikla. Electronically controllable current-mode universal biquad
filter using single DO-CCCDTA. Circuits Syst Signal Process, 27 (2008) 113122.
10 Nisar A.shah, Munazah Quadri, Syed Z .iqbal. CDTA based universal transadmittance lter.
Analog Integr Circ Sig Process , 52 (2007) 6569.
11 Wason Tanjaroen, Worapong Tangsrirat. Current-mode second-order notch filter using CDTAbased allpass sections. SICE Annual Conference, (2008) 1143-1146.
12 Wason Tanjaroen,Teerasilapa Dumawipata,Wora-pong Tangsrirat. TISO cascadable current-mode
multifunction filter employing current differencing transconductance amplifiers. SICE-ICASE
International Joint Conference , (2006) 5703-5706.
13 Wason Tanjaroen, Worapong Tangsrirat. Resistorless current-mode first-order allpass filter using
CDTAs. Electrical Engineering,Electronics, Computer, Telecommunications and Information
Technology, 2(2008)721-724.
14 Worapong Tangsrirat, Tattaya Pukkalanun, Wanlop Surakampontorn. Resistorless realization of
current-mode rst-order allpass lter using current differencing transconductance ampliers.
Microelectronics Journal 41 (2010) 178183.
15 Atilla Uygur,Hakan Kuntman. Seventh-order elliptic video lter with 0.1 dB pass band ripple
employing CMOS CDTAs. Int. J. Electron. Commun. (AE), 61 (2007) 320328.
16 Prasad D, et al. Universal current-mode biquad lter using dual output current differencing
transconductance amplier. Int J Electron Commun (AEU) ,(2008) doi: 10.1016/j.aeue.2008.02.012.

17 Worapong Tangsrirat, Tattaya Pukkalanun. Structural generation of two integrator loop lters
using CDTAs and grounded capacitors. Int. J. Circ. Theor. Appl. 39 (2011) 3145.
18 Ali Umit Keskin, Dalibor Biolek, Erhan Hancioglu, Viera Biolkova. Current-mode KHN lter
employing current differencing transconductance ampliers. Int. J. Electron. Commun. (AE) 60
(2006) 443446.
19 Worapong Tangsrirat, Teerasilapa Dumawipata, Wanlop Surakampontorn. Multiple-input singleoutput current-mode multifunction lter using current differencing transconductance ampliers. Int.
J. Electron. Commun. (AE) 61 (2007) 209 214.
20 Teerasilapa Dumawipata, Worapong Tangsrirat, Wanlop Surakampontorn. Cascadable currentmode multifunction filter with two inputs and three outputs using CDTAs. Informatiom,
Communications & Signal Processing, 2007 6th International Conference, 4 (2007) 10-13.
21 Acar C, Ozuguz S. Nth-order current transfer function synthesis using current differencing
buffered amplier: signal-ow graph approach. Microelectron J 31 (2000) 4953.
22 Muhammet Koksal, Mehmet Sagbas. A versatile signal ow graph realization of a general
transfer function by using CDBA. Int. J. Electron. Commun. (AE) 61 (2007) 3542.
23 Bekri At, Anday F. Nth-order low-pass lter employing current differencing transconductance
ampliers. In: Proceedings of the 2005 European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design, Cork,
Ireland, 2 (2005) 193196.
24 Tomas Dostal, Vladimir Smejkal, Josef Slezak. Realization of arbitrary transfer current
characteristic using transconductors CDTA. Radioelektronika, 2008 18th Internation Conference, 4 (
2008) 24-25.
25 Tangsrirat W, Fujii N, Surakampontorn W. Current-mode leapfrog ladder filters using CDBAs.
Circuits and Systems, 5 (2002) 57-56.
26 Williams B. Electronic filter design handbook. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1981.
About authors
Author-Jun XU was born in Changsha, China, in 1986. He received the B.S. degree from Changsha
University of Science & Technology , Changsha, China. He is currently studying in Hunan
University for master degree. His research interests include RFIC design with focus on currentmode circuit. xujun5811487@163.com

Co-author-Chunhua WANG was born in Yongzhou, China, in 1963. He received the B.S. degree from
Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, China, the M.S. degree from Physics Department,
Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China, the Ph.D. degree from Beijing University of Technology,
Beijing, China. He is currently a Professor and Doctoral supervisor of Hunan University, Changsha,
China. His research includes current-mode circuit design, RFIC design and wireless communication.
wch1227164@sina.com