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A Novel On-Chip Amplifier for Fast I DD Current Monitoring

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Abstract

A novel circuit of the low-voltage application-specific amplifier is proposed and analyzed. A wide-band current amplifying cell is developed as a central part of the amplifier structure. The amplifier is designed for a built-in-current-sensor, on-chip circuitry used in high-frequency power supply current monitoring and test applications. It could be implemented with analog, digital, or mixed-signal cores in an integrated system-on-chip environment. The current amplifier has been fabricated in 0.13 and 0.18 μm CMOS technology processes with 1.2 and 1.8 V power supply, respectively. The impacts of technology scaling on amplifier's performances have been investigated as well. With sensitivity better than 500 nA, the 0.13 μm design achieves the gain-bandwidth product of 6.8 GHz, low frequency current gain of 48 dB, high linearity for the input current range of (−15 μA, 15 μA), and power consumption of 5.2 mW.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4, Canada

    Marco S. Dragic, Igor M. Filanovsky & Martin Margala

Authors
  1. Marco S. Dragic
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  2. Igor M. Filanovsky
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  3. Martin Margala
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Dragic, M.S., Filanovsky, I.M. & Margala, M. A Novel On-Chip Amplifier for Fast I DD Current Monitoring. Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing 41, 185–198 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ALOG.0000041635.23947.a8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ALOG.0000041635.23947.a8

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