Class A 6 output stage for IOW

voltage CMOS
op-amps with accurate quiescent current
controI
A. Torralba, R.G. Carvajal, J. Martinez-Heredia
a n d J. Ramirez-Angulo

A new class AB output stage for CMOS op-amps, with accurate

is proposed. The
quiescent and minimum current

proposed stage can be operated with a supply voltage close to the

threshold voltage of the transistor, A dynamic biasing scheme
allows it to operate over a wide range of supply

Simulation results are provided that are in good agreement with

.
expected values.

Introduction: The demand for portable electronic equipment has

with very low

driven industry to produce circuit
voltage. Although two oxides are presently available in many analogue technologies, digital compatibility forces analogue circuits to
operate with supply voltages close to the threshold voltage of the
transistor.
Several low-voltage ( V D D < 1.SV) class AB output stages have
recently been reported [I - 51. Monticellis scheme [I] achieves an
accurate quiescent current control by means of a translinear loop
at the expense of a high voltage supply (larger than two VGs).In
[2], a folded version of Monticellis output stage was proposed to
achieve operation with a low supply voltage. The output stages
proposed in [I, 3 - 51 do not keep control of the minimum current
through the output transistors. In addition, the output stage proposed in [3] has a bad class AB behaviour, that proposed in [4]
requires a complex circuitry for quiescent current control, and that
proposed in [5] requires a voltage doubler to operate with a low
supply voltage. Other output stages using a feedback loop for quiescent current control can also be found in the literature, but they
have a slower speed and may have stability problems owing to the
feedback loop.
I

currents Iypand IMjnto transistors Mourp

and MO,,,, respectively.
Under quescent conditions, if VABwere too large, transistors M3p
and M3, would not be in saturation. Conversely, if VABwere too
small, transistors M l p -, Mzpand M I , - M2nwould operate in the
, =
linear region. Appropnate values for VxQ and V,Q are: VQ
VDD V
~ - VDS,,
G - AV
~ and ~VYQ=~ ~ G S M~, , , Q+ VDS,, + AV,
where AV is the safety margin that can be selected to be as small
as 0.05V. As a result, an appropriate value for VABis VAB= V y Q
- V,Q = VGsMf,Q
+ VsGM,pQ+ 2VDssal- V,, + 2AV. For a 0 . 8 ~
CMOS technology using a transistor with a threshold voltage of
is in the Order Of
to 3v depending On trano.8v,VAB +
sistor sizes and biasing currents. By this reasoning, this Stage can
be operated with 1.1V supply voltage and V A B = 0.8V. Note that
this stage can also be operated with a high supply voltage if VABis
tive. A dynamic biasing scheme will also be proposed that
ides the stage with a high PSRR. Small capacitors C1 are
used for local compensation as the open loop gain of the
feedback loop formed by MI,, M2, and M3n(MIp,M2pand M3p)
can be very high.

a
Moutp

Fig. 2 Biasing circuitry for proposed output stage

a Dynamic biasing circuitry
b Simple op-amp in voltage follower configuration for testing pro-

posed output stage

c Practical implemention

Fig. 1 Proposed class A B output stage

proposed class AB output stage with quiescent and minimum current

control: In this Letter a new CMOS class AB output stage is

presented with simple and accurate quiescent and minimum

current control (Fig, 1). In Fig, 1, the bias current 1, in the low
voltage differential pairs M~~
- M~~and M , ,
M,, [6] accurately
determines the quiescent output current IMou,Q
= IM,,,l,,Q= IMo,,Q =
2 d b , where the upper index Q denotes the quiescent value.
Furthermore, the minimum current through the output transistors
= d,,.
Note that IMoulQ
is given by IMOutMIN
= IMowm M I N = ZM o q
and IMournMIN do not depend on the value of the floating voltage
sources V A B , which is selected to allow an accurate copy of
-

ELECTRONICS LETTERS

12th October 2000

Vol. 36

Dynamic biasing scheme: Fig. 2a shows the basics of a biasing circuit for the proposed output stage (Fig. 1). Transistor MI and
current source Il determine VI = V , = VxQ,while transistor M2
and current source I2 determine V, = V, = VyQ. Proper scaling of
transistors MI and M2 assures proper operation of the differential
pairs M I , - M3, and M l p- M3p,respectively. The resistor R, and
the differential amplifier D A driving two matched current sources
I, constitute a voltage-to-current converter [7], so that I, = VA$R,
= (V, - Vw)/Rr= (V,Q - V,Q)/R,. Another matched resistor R,
and current sources I, of the same value constitute a floating voltage source V A B to be placed between nodes Y and X. Fig. 2c
shows a practical implementation of the circuit in Fig. 2a. In
Fig. 2c, the amplifier D A has been implemented by means of a
simple PMOS differential amplifier and current sources I, have
been copied by means of low voltage current mirrors, allowing
with less than
Operation Of the biasing
Note that the circuit in Fig. 1 with the biasing scheme in Fig. 2c
maintains its operation independent of the supply voltage, as long
for DD < 2v in OUT techas
remains positive
nolog). For larger supply voltages, the polarity of the floating
voltage sources should be inverted by changing the role of nodes
X-Y and W-Z.
Simulation results: The proposed output stage in Fig. 1 was simulated with Spectre and the parameters of a standard 0.8pn CMOS
technology. As the threshold voltages of the transistors are -O.SV,

No. 21

1753

a 1.5V supply voltage was chosen. Design parameters are listed in

for
Table 1. Fig. 3a presents the transistor currents ZMo,, and Zmourn
Vx in the range 20MOOmV, showing a typical class AB behaviour. The quiescent output current of 72@ is in good agreement
with the expected value (70@), as well as a minimum current
through the output transistors ZMOurMIN of 36@ (expected value
35cLA).

Design

parameters

Units Value

Performances

Units

Value

YOU, F., EMBABI, s.H.K., and SANCHEZ-SINENCIO, E.: Low-voltage

class AB buffers with quiescent current control, IEEE J. SolidState Circuits, 1998, 33, (6), pp. 915-920
RAM~REZ-ANGULO,J., CARVAJAL, R.G., TOMBS, J., and TORRALBA,A.:
A simple technique for opamp continuous-time 1V supply
operation, Electron. Lett., 1999, 35, (4), pp. 263-264
GIUSTOLISI, G., PALMISANO, G., PALUMBO, G., and SEGRETO, T.: 1.2 v
CMOS op-amp with a dynamically biased output stage, IEEE J.
Solid-state Circuits, 2000, 35, (4), pp. 632-636
PELUSO, v., VANCORELAND, P., MARQUES, A.M., STEYAERT, M.s.J., and
S A N S E N , ~ . :A 900mV low-power AZ N D converter with 77dB
dynamic range, IEEE J Solid-state Circuits, 1998, 33, (12), pp.
1887-1897
RAMIREZ-ANGULO, I., TORRALBA, A., and CARVAJAL, R.G.: LOWvoltage CMOS amplifier with wide input-output voltage swing
based on a novel scheme, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, 2000, 47,
(5), pp. 712-774

Asymptotic solution and factorisation for

multiple half-plane diffraction
A.S. Nastachenko
C, = lOpF, VDD = 1.5, Cc= IOpF, R c = l k Q , C1 = l p F , V C M . A ~ J600mV);
=
transient response, 0.3V peak square input signal

A generalisation of Fresnels integral and Boersmas function is

proposed and a relation between them is established. An explicit
asymptotic solution is found, which allows the time required for
calculation of the diffraction losses to be sigmticantly reduced.
The solution is factorised for a great number of obstacles and a
low bounding surface curvature.
Introduction: Finding a solution to the problem of multiple dif-

time, ns
b

V,DC, mV
a

1064/31

Fig. 3 Simulation results for proposed output stage

a Class AB behaviour of proposed output stage (a battery with a

value. vDD/2 is attached to the output)

b Transient response of op-amp in Fig. 2c under the conditions listed
in Table 1

An op-amp was built using a simple PMOS differential pair in

the input stage and the output stage proposed here. This op-amp
can be used for very low voltage switched op-amp applications or
in sampled-data and continuous-time applications with the DC
level shift in the input stage provided by the circuit proposed in
141.
The op-amp was simulated in non-inverting configuration with
0.15V of common-mode input voltage (Fig. 2c), allowing up to
0.3V peak-to-peak input signal with 1.5V supply. Fig. 3b shows
the transient response with a 0.3V peak-to-peak, 2MHz square
input signal. Note that a slew rate of IOV/p was achieved, limited
by the tail current of the op-amp input stage. The simulated opamp performances are summarised in Table 1.
0 IEE 2000
3 July 2000
Electronics Letters Online No: 20001247
DOI: 10.1049/eI:20001247
A. Torralba, R.G. Carvajal and J. Martinez-Heredia (Departamento de
Ingenieria Electrdnica, Escuela Superior de Ingenieros, Universidad de
Sevilla. Sevilla, Spain)

fraction is important to the prediction of field strength in an

urban environment, but involves considerable mathematical complexity [l]. A modification of Voglers method proposed in [2] provides a numerical result but is time-consuming and does not allow
the physics of the phenomenon to be analysed. The phenomenological model of multiple difiaction [3], based on the use of Kellers diffraction theory, yields approximations obtained by means
of numerical integration. However, no rigorous theoretical solution is explicitly provided. We consider diffraction on a single surface that bounds the obsacles, since there is no physical sense in
separately considering the diffraction on each obstacle if the
obstacles are numerous. Since considering an idealised problem
shows the physics of a phenomenon most visibly, we assume that
the source and the observation point have zero heights, that the
surface curvature is constant, and that the radiated wave is cylindrical.
Generalisation of Fresnels integral parameter: Fresnels integral
depends on the dimensionless parameter U = -hd[2/h(l/d1 + lid,)]
[4] and can be written in the form

Earlier we described the geometry of the problem and introduced

the dimensionlessparameters p and z [5].We have now found that
p = p, where y = 252n1/2 10. Therefore
L-

2,

= -(D/2)3/2X-1/2R-1

where the definitions of h, D and R are given in [5].

Relation between Fresnels integral and Boersmas function: We use

E-mail: torralba@gte.esi.us.es
J. Ramirez-Angulo (Klipsch School

of Electrical and Computer

Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA)

the definition [5]of the special function

~ ~ (=2~ ) ~
I

References

/ ~ e x p i ~...
, z ~

exp (-z)1/2z
1

A quad CMOS single-supply op amp with railto-rail output swing, IEEE J. Solid-state Circuits, 1986, 21, (6),
MONTICELLI, D.M.:

pp. 1026-1034
2

DE LANGEN, K.J.,

and HUISING,

H J.:

Compact l o w - v o l t a g e p o w e r -

efficient operational amplifier cells for VLSI, IEEE J. Solid-State

Circuits, 1998, 33, (lo), pp. 1482-1496

1754

t,

Yn]dtl . .dt,

(2)

,=l

where n is the number of obstacles (diffraction multiplicity), while

Y, and cc, are defined earlier. In the case of single diffraction,
upon transition to the parameter U, we obtain an alternative
expression for Fresnels integral:

ELECTRONICS LETTERS

12th October 2000

Vol. 36

No. 21