Matej Rakus, Viera Stopjakova, Daniel Arbet
Institute of Electronics and Photonics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering
and Information Technology Slovak University of Technology
in Bratislava, Slovakia,
Journal of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, Vol.68 (2017), No.4, 245–255
DOI: 10.1515/jee-2017–0036
ABSTRACT: In this paper, a review and analysis of different design techniques for (ultra) low-voltage integrated circuits (IC) are performed. This analysis shows that the most suitable design methods for low-voltage analog IC design in a standard CMOS process include techniques using bulk-driven MOS transistors, dynamic threshold MOS transistors and MOS transistors operating in weak or moderate inversion regions. The main advantage of such techniques is that there is no need for any modification of standard CMOS structure or process. Basic circuit building blocks like differential amplifiers or current mirrors designed using these approaches are able to operate with the power supply voltage of 600 mV (or even lower), which is the key feature towards integrated systems for modern portable applications.
Fig: Parameter gm/ID versus the normalized drain current. MOS transistor
operates in weak inversion (WI) for ic < 0.1. Strong
inversion (SI) is for ic < 10. Everything in between belongs
to the moderate inversion (MI) with center in ic = 1
