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A CMOS pseudo-exponential current-output DAC with code-dependent body-biasing

  • Mixed Signal Letter
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Abstract

In this paper, a nonlinear current-output digital to analog converter (DAC) employing a pseudo-exponential transconductance amplifier is presented. The proposed transconductance amplifier makes use of the code-dependent body-biasing to realize the exponential relationship of the output current to the input digital signal in the CMOS technology. A digital control unit is designed to provide a linearly code-dependent voltage to feed into the transconductance amplifier by charging a capacitor for a period determined by a counter which is loaded by the input digital code. The proposed DAC is simulated in a 180 nm standard CMOS technology. The accuracy of the exponential input-output characteristic is verified by the curve fitting of the simulation results where R-squared value of the fitted functions is greater than 0.999 in all process and temperature corners. The presented DAC consumed 79 μW in the worst-case.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Esmailiyan, Erfan Ghaderi & Iman Ghotbi

  2. Nano-Electronic Center of Excellence, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Omid Shoaei

Authors
  1. Ali Esmailiyan
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  2. Erfan Ghaderi
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  3. Iman Ghotbi
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  4. Omid Shoaei
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Correspondence to Omid Shoaei.

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Esmailiyan, A., Ghaderi, E., Ghotbi, I. et al. A CMOS pseudo-exponential current-output DAC with code-dependent body-biasing. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 88, 127–136 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-016-0744-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-016-0744-y

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