International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, Volume 2, Issue 4, April 2012)

Design and Analysis of Current-to-Voltage and Voltage -

to-Current Converters using 0.35µm technology
Kopal Gupta1, Prof. B. P Singh 2, Rockey Choudhary 3
1
M.Tech (VLSI Design ) at Mody Institute of Technology &Science, Laxmangarh (Sikar),India
2
Mody Institute of Technology &Science, Department of ECE, Laxmangarh (Sikar), India
3
M.Tech (VLSI Design) at Mody Institute of Technology &Science, Laxmangarh (Sikar), India
1
kopal2009@gmail.com
2
bpsingh@ieee.org
3
rockeychoudhary@gmail.com

Abstract— This paper presents the design of a Current-to- V − I converters play a vital role at the input interface of
Voltage (I−V) and Voltage-to-Current (V−I) converters for current-mode systems. A common approach to current
use in current-mode analog integrated circuits are described. generation involves the use of an operational amplifier with
The proposed I−V converter and V-I Converter has high a MOS transistor M1 and a resistor R1 as shown in Figure
linear range. The circuit uses MOS transistors in linear and
1(c). Negative feedback ensures that the current through the
saturation regions to produce an output current linearly
related to the input voltage. Both circuits have been transistor M1 is equal to the applied input voltage divided
implemented in a 0.35μm standard digital CMOS process. by the resistor R1. For a given size of M1 and resistor R1,
the finite rail-to-rail output voltage swing of the amplifier
Keywords—Current mode circuits, Current-to-Voltage poses the major limitation to the achievable linear range of
converter, Voltage-to-current Converter currents. Alternate approaches that have been proposed for
V −I converters [3],[4],[5], [7] suffer from limited linearity.
I. INTRODUCTION and/or susceptible to loading conditions affecting
Current-mode IC designs are gaining popularity owing performance.
to their high linear range, speed and potential for low
power designs [1]. Current-to-Voltage (I−V ) and Voltage-
to-Current (V − I) converters play an important role as
interface/measurement elements in current-mode mixed
signal systems. Compact I−V and V−I converters are
essential in realizing the high performance offered by
current-mode systems. Specifically, it is important that
these interface elements offer a high linear range,
bandwidth and a variable conversion gain. More
importantly, their performance should remain unaffected by
the loading effects of current-mode systems. A popular
approach to implementing I−V converters is to configure
an operational amplifier as a charge integrator. This
approach, owing to sampling delays is limited to measuring
low frequency currents. A transimpedance amplifier, as
shown in Figure 1(b) provides continuous time I−V
conversion and is a viable alternative. This approach
requires careful consideration to compensation to ensure
good performance [2].Also, measuring small currents on
chip is prohibitive owing to the large values of resistors
needed. Logarithmic converters using BJTs have a high
dynamic range but implement a nonlinear current Fig.1 Interface circuitry for current mode systems(a)block diagram
conversion and are not suited for standard digital CMOS for measurement and characterization of current mode systems
(b)Transimpedance amplifier used for I-V conversion (c)Typical
processes. circuitry used for V-I conversion
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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, Volume 2, Issue 4, April 2012)
II. CURRENT-TO-VOLTAGE CONVERTER
Current to voltage converter is one of the basic building
blocks in analog circuits. Aiming at the needs of wide
dynamic range, design of current to voltage conversion
circuit is required. A current to voltage conversion can be
realized by means of a charge accumulation process. If the
time of the charge accumulation is made variable, then the
gain of the conversion can be variable. However, this
approach requires a linear capacitor and introduces, in
many cases, a significant delay. Also, for the variable
charge accumulation time, additional circuitry is required,
which may add a complexity in the circuit structure.
Another approach of the conversion is to use the
logarithmic feature of MOS transistors. If the input current
flow through a MOS channel and the gate-to-source
voltage is made to vary with the current, this voltage will
be logarithmically proportional to the current. Althoug this
approach provides a variable gain and a wide input signal
range, the sensitivity of the circuit is usually low.
A. Circuit Description
The input current i can be either positive or negative.
Assume that the two PMOS transistors are identical and so
are the two NMOS transistors.In case of i=0, vG=VG and
vo=VG.If i 0, vG=VG-vg and iP1 and iN1 are changed.
Consequently, both iP2 and iN2 tend to change. The
transistors operate in different ways according to the level
of the signal current i. One of the following cases can be
possible.
Fig.2 Schematic of current-to-voltage converter
458
Case I: If the current signal i is very weak, in an nA
range or below, vg, the variation at the common gate of the
four transistors namely P1, N1, P2 and N2 is very small.
Assume that it is small enough not to drive P 2 and N2 out of
the saturation region, but it can modify the currents iP2 and
iN2 effectively. As the transistors in the NMOS or PMOS
pairs are identical, P2 and N2 tend to produce a difference
of currents that is equal to the input signal current i. As
there is no path for the current difference to flow out, it is
used to change drain-to-source voltages of the transistors P 2
and N2,respectively.Due to finite drain-to-source
resistances of P2 and N2,the output voltage v0 changes from
VG to VG-v0.The variation of the output voltage will be
v0 i( ),
where rDSP2 is the drain to source resistance of P2 and
rDSN2 is the drain to source resistance of N2 .In the
saturation region rDSP2//rDSN2 can have a large values, e.g.
tens,or even hundreds,of Mega ohms. Thus, a small current
variation will be converted into a voltage variation with a
very high and quasi-constant gain.
Case2. If the current signal i is strong, e.g. in a µA range
,vg ,the voltage variation at the common gate will be more
significant than that in the case discussed above. Such a
variation can drive P2 and N2 from the saturation region to
the triode region. If i , P2 will be in the triode mode, and
N2,in the saturation, and the voltage variation at the output
node will be proportional to the product of ir DSP2.In case of
i , it is proportional to the product of –irDSN2.It should
be noted that in these cases rDSP2 and rDSN2 are the drain to
source resistances in the triode mode and they are much
smaller than those in case of the saturation mode. Thus,
compared to the case of a weak current signal i, the
conversion gain is significantly lowered.
Case3 If the current signal i is at medium level,P 2 or N2
can operate crossing the saturation and triode regions, the
conversion gain can be in the medium range. As there is
infact, no clear edge of any of the two regions of the
transistors, and is a continuous function of vDS, the
conversion gain of the circuit is a continuous function of
the input signal i.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, Volume 2, Issue 4, April 2012)
B. Simulation Results
The circuit shown in Fig.3 has been simulated with T-
SPICE using 0.35µm technology. Fig.4 shows the transfer
characteristics of the circuit when the input current varies
between -1nA and +1nA.In this input current range, the
output voltage varies between 1.61V and 1.72V.
(a) Input Current
III. VOLTAGE-TO-CURRENT CONVERTER
In instrumentation circuitry, DC signals are often used as
analog representations of physical measurements such as
temperature, pressure, flow, weight, and motion. Most
commonly, current signals are exactly equal in magnitude
throughout the series circuit loop carrying current from the
source (measuring device) to the load (indicator, recorder,
or controller), whereas voltage signals in a parallel circuit
may vary from one end to the other due to resistive wire
losses. Furthermore, current-sensing instruments typically
have low impedances (while voltage-sensing instruments
have high impedances), which gives current-sensing
instruments greater electrical noise immunity.
In order to use current as an analog representation of a
physical quantity, we have to have some way of generating
a precise amount of current within the signal circuit. But
how do we generate a precise current signal when we might
not know the resistance of the loop. The answer is to use an
amplifier designed to hold current to a prescribed value,
applying as much or as little voltage as necessary to the
load circuit to maintain that value. Such an amplifier
performs the function of a current source.
Voltage-to-current converters have a miscellany of
applications in analogue electronics, notably in the design
of mixers/modulators, voltage-to-frequency converters and
interface units between circuits employing voltage-mode
signal processing and those using current-mode processing.
Popular types of voltage-to-current converters use
feedback, cross-coupling , originally proposed by Caprio,
and the multi-tanh technique.

(a) Output Voltage

Fig.3 Transient Analysis of Current-to-Voltage Converter

Fig.4 Transfer Characteristics,the output voltage versus the input

current Fig.5 Schematic of Conventional Voltage to Current Converter
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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, Volume 2, Issue 4, April 2012)

The circuit shown in Fig.5 has been simulated with T-

SPICE using 0.35µm technology. Fig.4 shows the transfer
characteristics of the circuit when the input voltage varies
between -2V and +2V.In this input voltange range, the
output current varies between 1.61V and 1.72V.

Fig.7 Transfer Characteristics,the output current versus the input

voltage

A. Proposed Circuit Design

Fig.6 V-I converter response to a sinusoidal input

Fig.8 Schematic of Proposed Voltage to Current Converter

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, Volume 2, Issue 4, April 2012)
The circuit was simulated using T-Spice with 0.35μm
TSMC CMOS process parameters. Vdd=3.3V.Fig.9 (a)
shows the time response of the voltage to current converter
for a sinusoidal input voltage with 1V peak amplitude and
100Hz frequency. Output of voltage to current converter is
having peak amplitude of 200mA in Fig. 9 (b).
(a). Sinusoidal input voltage
(b). Output Current
Fig.9 Time response of voltage to current converter
IV. CONCLUSION
We have described linear I−V and V −I converters that
are compact and easy to implement in a standard digital
CMOS process. The proposed circuits have been
implemented in a 0.35μm CMOS technology and
experimental results have been presented. Both the I − V
and V − I converters display a large linear range and
introduce very low distortion. I-V Converter circuit
consists of only four transistors, is self biased and doesn’t
need any clock control. V-I Converter consist of op-amp
and resistances. Setting the value of resistor increases the
dynamic range.
461
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Mody Institute of
Technology & Science for supporting in carrying out this
work.
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