ANALOG CIRCUITS

LAB
EE-302

Submitted To
Dr. Vinayak Hande

Submitted By
Varun Sharma
Entry No: 2018EEB1193

Submitted On : 8st March 2021

 Experiment – 2
Design and compare different current sources

Objective
 Design a current source and find its output resistance and the minimum voltage required for its operation.
 Design a cascode current source and find their output resistance and the minimum voltage required for
operation.
 Design a low voltage cascode current source and find their output resistance and the minimum voltage
required for operation.
 Compare different current sources.

Components and Tools Required

LTspice XVII: For design and simulations
LTspice components and commands used
 .dc : DC Sweep
 .model : Custom Model Declaration
 NMOS4 : Custom NMOS Model
 Basic Electrical Components: Voltage Source, Resistor

Theory
The MOSFET can be used to observe a current mirror in the following 3 configurations:

1. Diode Connected Configuration:

When the drain of the MOS is connected with its gate terminal, then it operates in the saturation mode. In
saturation region, the dependence of Id on Vds is almost ruled out if we neglect the channel length modulation
factor and Id remains constant irrespective of the changes in value for Vd and is only dependent upon the
square of the overdrive voltage. The expression for Id in saturation is given as
Cox W
Id = µ ( Vgs − Vt)2 ( 1 +  Vds ) ; Vds ≥ Vgs − Vt ≥ 0
2 L
In diode connected configuration,
Vgs = Vds
Cox W
Id = Iref = µ ( Vgs − Vt)2 ( 1 +  Vgs ) ; Vds = Vgs
2 L
So, Id for a constant Vgs will behave like a constant current source. For using Diode Connected Configuration
to design a current mirror, the reference current is provided and NMOS is operated in Diode connected
configuration. The NMOS adjusts its Vgs as per the above equation in order to match Id with Iref. Then this
value of Vgs is provided to the gate of another common source NMOS circuit. If that NMOS is operating in
saturation as well and its physical dimensions are same as that of the source NMOS, then the entire Iref current
is replicated as Id2 in the second NMOS.
In the adjacent fig, Q2 has same Vgs as Q1. Assuming Q2 to be
operating in saturation mode, we have

Cox W
𝐼𝑜 = µ ( ) ( Vgs − Vt)2 ( 1 +  Vo )
2 L
Assuming the mobility , oxide capacitance Cox, (W/L) aspect ratio and
lambda  to be same for both the NMOS. So, if Q2 operates operates
in saturation region as well with Vo as the drain voltage then the ratio
of Iref and Io is given as
Iref 1 +  Vgs
= (1)
Io 1 +  Vo
For Iref to be equal to Io, Vo has to be equal to Vgs. So, the value for Vo at which the entire Iref is replicated
as Io is
Vo = Vgs
If the channel length modulation is ignored for both Q1 and Q2, then (1) is equal to unity only when Q2
operates in saturation. From there we get the minimum value for Vo that will replicate Iref as Io which is
Vo ≥ Vgs
With this Vo condition met along with identical (W/L), Cox , µ and negligible  for both NMOS, then Q2
replicates the entire Iref as Io and this configuration acts as a current mirror.
Advantages of Diode Connected Configuration:
a. Diode-connected transistors are used in current mirrors to provide a voltage drop that tracks that of
the other transistor as temperature changes.
b. They also have very low reverse leakage currents

2. Cascode Current Mirror Configuration:

Transistor M1 and M3 will have the same overdrive VOD. n M2 and
M4 have the same overdrive. As mentioned before, M1 and M2 have
the same overdrive. So all 4 transistors have the same overdrive VOD.
n Note all 4 transistors have the same threshold voltage VTH if body
effect is ignored. Hence
VX = VY = VOD + VTH
VGS3 = VOD + VTH
as M1 and M3 carry the same current
VG3 = VGS3 + VX
VG3 = 2 VTH + 2 VOD ignoring body effect.
Hence VG4 = 2 VTH + 2 VOD.
For Id2 to be equal to Iref, M4 has to operate in saturation. For that we require
𝑉𝑄 ≥ 𝑉𝐵
𝑉𝑄 ≥ 𝑉𝐺4
𝑉𝑄 ≥ 2𝑉𝑂𝐷 + 2𝑉𝑇𝐻
𝐴𝑠 𝑉𝑂𝐷 = 𝑉𝑋 − 𝑉𝑇𝐻

𝑆𝑜 𝑉𝑄 ≥ 2𝑉𝑋

This is the minimum value that VQ must have in order to replicate Iref as Id2.
The output resistance seen at the drain of M4 is magnified by a factor (1 + gm4 ro2). Typically, gm4 r02 >>
1 and r02 = r04 = r0 as M2 and M4 carry the same current.
𝑅𝑜 = 𝑔𝑚4 ∗ 𝑟𝑜22
If body effect is included
𝑅𝑜 = (𝑔𝑚4 + 𝑔𝑚𝑏) ∗ 𝑟𝑜22

Advantages of Cascode Current Mirror Configuration:

a. No current gain systematic error
b. Higher output resistance
Disadvantages of Cascode Current Mirror Configuration:
a. Higher minimum output voltage.
b. Consumes a relatively large portion of the steadily shrinking supply voltage VDD

3. Low Voltage Cascode Current Mirror Configuration:

In cascode current mirror, VX=VY and VX=VTH+VOD
VO min=2VTH+2VOD
If VX≠VY, then we observe Low output voltage and high swing.
Adding a voltage shifter VTH, now VY=VX-VTH=VOD
The minimum output voltage is now VB
The output resistance remains the same as the Cascode current mirror.
Disadvantages of Low Voltage Cascode Current Mirror :
Since VX=VY is no longer valid, the current gain systematic error is not
zero
Procedure
The custom NMOS model that we will use for the simulations is characterized with the following features
NMOS ∶ Vto = 0.57 V Kp = 190u  = 0.16  = 0.50  = 0.7
We will use a current source of amplitude 100u as a reference for our current mirrors. At first, we will design the
diode connected current mirror. In order to obtain the minimum value for Vo for current replication, we will
sweep the Vo from 0 to 3 V and then trace the drain current Io with respect to different values for Vo. From the
plot, we’ll trace the voltage at which Id crosses 100u. The value of voltage Vd at which Id is equal to 100u is the
minimum value the we need for observing the current mirror. The Vd for the source NMOS is kept at 3V.
Then in order to obtain the output resistance, we will apply a sinusoidal signal with amplitude 1mV with an offset
equal to the critical voltage that we evaluated earlier. Then we plot Id for this input signal. We take the peak to
peak value of Id and use that value to evaluate the output resistance of the current mirror.
Then we will design the cascode current mirror and the low voltage cascode current mirror and apply the above
procedure to get the minimum value of voltage Vo and the output resistance.
At the end, we would analyze our results and comment on the relative advantages and disadvantages of each of
the considered configurations.

Assumptions
1. W/L ratio for all the NMOS is kept equal to 10.
2. The channel length modulation factor  is kept same for all NMOS. We have kept a significant value of
 to visualize the effects of changing Vds on Id.
3. To make analysis more realistic, we have kept Gamma and Phi non zero.

Circuit Diagram
Diode Connected Current Mirror
 Cascode Current Mirror

Low Voltage Cascode Current Mirror

Plots
The plots for Id with sweep voltage input at Vd for different current mirror configuration is as follows
X Axis : V_req ( Vd voltage sweep value) Y Axis : Id at V_req as Vd

DIODE CONNECTED MIRROR CONFIGURATION

CASCODE CONNECTED MIRROR CONFIGURATION

LOW VOLTAGE CASCODE CONNECTED MIRROR CONFIGURATION

Theoretical calculations for minimum Vo
Using the derived equations for each of the current mirror configuration in the theory section, now we will
evaluate the values for Vo for each of the circuits and will tabulate them for further comparison.

1. Diode Connected Configuration:

For diode connected configuration, the minimum value for Vo that we require as per the derivation is
𝑉𝑜 = 𝑉𝑔𝑠
Where Vgs is the gate to source voltage of the source NMOS. For source NMOS we have Id = Iref =100u. Using
the specifications of the NMOS, now we will calculate the value for Vgs
Since source NMOS is in saturation, so
Cox W
Id = Iref = µ ( Vgs − Vt)2 ( 1 +  Vgs ) ; Vds = Vgs
2 L
Since, the minimum value of Vo was what we are calculating, we have kept  = 0
Cox W
Id = Iref = µ ( Vgs − Vt)2 ; Vds = Vgs
2 L
190𝑢
100𝑢 = ∗ 10 ∗ (𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 0.57)2
2
2
= (𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 0.57)2
19
0.2944 = 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 0.57

𝑉𝑔𝑠 = 0.8644

For this configuration, the minimum value for Vo was equal to Vgs for proper current replication. Hence, the
required value for Vo is

𝑉𝑜 ≥ 0.8644

2. Cascode Connected Mirror Configuration:

Here also we have the diode connected transistor connection plus all the conditions for M1 in Cascode connection
is identical to Q1 in diode connected case. Hence, they both have same Vgs. So
𝑉𝑔𝑠 (𝑀1) = 0.8644
Hence, the required range for VQ is
𝑉𝑄 ≥ 2 𝑉𝑔𝑠

𝑉𝑄 ≥ 1.73 𝑉
 3. Low Voltage Cascode Connected Mirror Configuration:
NMOS M3 will be in saturation and M1 in linear region. So, evaluating values for Id for both NMOS
Cox W
Iref = µ ( Vb − Vx − Vt)2 (𝑀3)
2 L
190𝑢
100𝑢 = ∗ 10 ∗ (𝑉𝑏 − 𝑉𝑥 − 0.57)2
2
𝑉𝑏 − 𝑉𝑥 = 0.894 (1)

W 𝑉𝑥 2
Iref = µCox (( Vb − Vt) 𝑉𝑥 − ) (𝑀1)
L 2

𝑉𝑥 2
0.053 = (𝑉𝑏 − 0.57)𝑉𝑥 − (2)
2
On solving equations (1) and (2), we get
𝑉𝑏 = 0.9667 𝑉
𝑉𝑥 = 0.0727 𝑉
So the required range for Vout is

𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 ≥ 0.9667 𝑉

Using Plots for determining Vmin

In order to get the minimum value of Vo required for exact current replication, we need to use the cursor option
on the plots and trace the Vo value at which the Id equates to Iref i.e. 100uA.

DIODE CONNECTED MIRROR CONFIGURATION

 Minimum value of Vo for application as a current mirror is

Vo = 0.866 V
So for all values of Vo greater than 0.866, the NMOS2 is in
saturation and the entire Iref is replicated at Io. Z
From the above theory we had that Vo must be at least equal
to the gate-source voltage Vgs of the source NMOS in order
to replicate Iref.
From the plot, we observed that the Vgs for NMOS 1 is
0.863.3V as can be seen from
the adjacent plot. So, we can
see that the minimum value for
Vo is almost equivalent to the
value of Vgs for NMOS1. This
resemblance too verifies our
derived result that minimum
Vo for diode connected
configuration is equal to the
Vgs of NMOS1.

CASCODE CONNECTED MIRROR CONFIGURATION

The minimum value for Vo for current mirror realization is

𝑉𝑜 = 1.7159 𝑉
It can be seen from the cursor reading corresponding to the
point marked on the above plot. The Vgs corresponding to
NMOS M1 in this case can be found by plotting it. We get
𝑉𝑔𝑠 = 0.8435 𝑉
As per our derivation, the minimum value for Vo for current
mirror operation was double the Vgs for NMOS M1. Here
 2 ∗ 𝑉𝑔𝑠(𝑀1) = 2 ∗ 0.8435
2 ∗ 𝑉𝑔𝑠(𝑀1) = 1.687 𝑉
This value is quite close to our
found value of Vo i.e 1.7159
V. This validates our
theoretical evaluated relation
for minimum Vo. The plot for
Vgs (M1) is adjacent for
reference.

LOW VOLTAGE CASCODE CONNECTED MIRROR

From our plot, the minimum Vo required for our low voltage
cascade connected mirror to operate is equal to

𝑉𝑜 = 0.992 𝑉

The value of Vgs for NMOS M2 is

𝑉𝑔𝑠 (𝑀2) = 0.9889 𝑉
As per our theoretical analysis, minimum value of Vo for
current mirror operation is equal to the Vgs for M2. And we
can see that both of these values are very close. Hence, this validates our analysis.
Error analysis for Vmin
We have found the Vmin value for each current mirror configuration from theoretical calculations at first and
then by actually plotting the Id for various values of Vd. The values that we get are tabulated below

Mirror Configuration Vmin ( Theoretical ) Vmin ( From Plots) Error (%)

Diode Connected 0.8644 0.866 0.18
Cascode 1.73 1.7159 0.82
Low Voltage Cascode 0.9667 0.992 2.62

The error in Vmin is evaluated with respect to the theoretical calculated value. We can see that the error between
the theoretical and the plot values are very small for all current mirror configurations. So, the equation that we
derived were correct.
For evaluating the output resistance for each configuration, we will use the Vmin values obtained from the plots.

Evaluating Output Resistance

For evaluating the output resistance, we will apply a sinusoidal voltage of 1mV with an offset equal to the Vo
critical to Vo port. Then we will plot the Id for this input voltage. Then we will take the peak to peak current
value of the Id and divide that from the peak to peak value of Vo applied i.e 2mV and get the Rout.

DIODE CONNECTED MIRROR CONFIGURATION

The Vo critical for this configuration is 0.866 V. The applied signal at the Vo port and the current Id is as follows
The peak to peak current value for Id can be evaluated using both data cursors on Id plot.

From the information from data cursor, we can observe that the max and min value of Id are as follows
𝐼𝑑 max = 100.02695 µ𝐴
𝐼𝑑 min = 100.0134 µ𝐴
Hence, the peak to peak current value is
𝐼𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 = 𝐼𝑑 max − 𝐼𝑑 min = 13.55 𝑛𝐴
This value can also be obtained from the difference section of the data cursor tab.
The output resistance Rout is defined as
𝑉𝑜 (𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘)
𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑡 =
𝐼𝑑 (𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘)
2 𝑚𝑉
𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑡 =
13.55 𝑛𝐴
Hence, we get

𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 147.6 𝐾

CASCODE CONNECTED MIRROR CONFIGURATION

The Vo critical for this configuration is 1.7159 V. The applied signal at the Vo port is as follow

The plot obtained for the current Id is as follow

The peak to peak value of Id can be obtained from the data cursor information

𝐼𝑑 max = 100.00318 µ𝐴
𝐼𝑑 min = 99.999647 µ𝐴
𝐼𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 = 3.5359 𝑛𝐴

𝑉𝑜 (𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘)
𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑡 =
𝐼𝑑 (𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘)
2 𝑚𝑉
𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑡 =
3.5359 𝑛𝐴

𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 565.63 𝐾

LOW VOLTAGE CASCODE CONNECTED MIRROR

The Vo critical for this configuration is 0.992 V. The applied signal at the Vo port is as follow
The plot for Id corresponding to this Vo signal is

𝐼𝑑 max = 100.00319 µ𝐴
𝐼𝑑 min = 99.999644 µ𝐴
𝐼𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 = 3.5456 𝑛𝐴

𝑉𝑜 (𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘)
𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑡 =
𝐼𝑑 (𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘)
2 𝑚𝑉
𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑡 =
3.5456 𝑛𝐴

𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 564.08 𝐾

Analysis
Our observations in this experiment can be tabulated as follow

Mirror Configuration Vmin ( Theory ) Vmin ( Plot ) Rout ( in K)

Diode Connected 0.8644 0.866 147.6
Cascode 1.73 1.7159 565.63
Low Voltage Cascode 0.9667 0.992 564.08

The value of Vmin is minimum for Diode Connected Configuration whereas it is maximum for the Cascode
Configuration. So a small drain voltage is required in diode connected configuration to observe the current mirror
whereas a comparatively larger voltage is required in the cascode mirrors. This large Vmin value for cascode
mirrors can be reduced by using it in Low Voltage Cascode configuration.
Hence, whenever there is some constraint on the maximum value of available voltage, diode connected
configuration should be preferred as it provides more flexibility in the value of drain voltage.
A good current mirror should provide a high resistance at the output port. Cascode and Low Voltage Cascode
provide higher output resistance as compared to the diode connected case. So, for high precision applications the
cascode configuration should be preferred over diode connected one.
From the above analysis of Vmin and Output resistance, we can realize that the Low Voltage Cascode
configuration is better than the other two configurations as it provides quite high output resistance and at the same
time require less drain voltage for operation.

Conclusion
Current mirrors are quite useful component in analog amplifier design and based on the requirement as well as
the possible range of operating values, we can choose one from the above considered current mirrors to realize
out purpose. LTspice provides us a good platform to compare the functioning of each such circuit configuration.