environments analysed in Spain, France and Sweden, and the SIMPLE CMOS TRANSITION ACCELERATOR

corresponding CDFs are depicted in Fig. 5. The maximum CIRCUIT

5 .
Indexing term: Circuit design
A simple CMOS circuit whose input/output characteristics
follow an ‘antihysteresis’ curve is presented. This curve is
similar in shape to the input/output characteristics of a
Schmitt trigger, but it is followed in the reverse direction.
This circuit can be used as a transition accelerator.

0 1 I 5 IO 20 50 80 9 0 9 5 99 9 9 9 9
Introduction: The characteristic curve of the classical Schmitt
‘1. of time
a trigger has two threshold voltages V,, and V,, (Fig. la): while
the input signal is lower than the upper threshold V, the
output stays high; the curve then drops around that point.
4 “0”t ,
V0”t

-15 L I
01 1 5 10 20 50 80 9 0 9 5 99 9999
% of
b
time 3
‘ V,n k T
‘L V,, ‘TH
a b174511/
Fig. 1 Compared 110 characteristics
a Schmitt trigger
b present circuit
The output stays low as long as the input is higher than the
lower threshold V,,. The Schmitt trigger is often used to
transform noisy or poorly shaped signals into well-shaped rec-
tangular pulses. However, it should be noted that the Schmitt
trigger is responsible for a noticeable delay between input and
01 1 510 2 0 50 80 9 0 9 5 99 9999 output transitions, especially when the input signal has long
% of tune transition times (Fig. 2).
C
In contrast, the circuit presented here can be seen as a
Fig. 5 Cumulative distributions andfitsfor rural environments transition accelerator. In this circuit, there are also two
__ model
_ ~ _ empirical
_
o Spain
b France
e Sweden

error is 1 dB or lower over the 0.1%-99.9% time range in all

fits performed. The empirical distributions and the model 1745121
differ by 0.3-0.5 dB RMS for that time range. Fig. 2 Circuit transient response
a input signal
Conclusions: The new LMSS propagation model proposed b Scbmitt trigger output
here is in our opinion more adequate than previous models. c circuit output
Easy to implement, it is suitable for low margin LMSS where
threshold voltages (Fig. lb): the output stays high as long as
shadowing is the main impairment and has been applied with
the input is below the lower threshold V,,, then it becomes
good results in various environments in three elevation angles
low. Next, the input must reach a point above the upper
(13”, 26” and 39”).
threshold V,,,. Then, the output rises when the input signal
becomes lower than VTn. It can be seen in Fig. 2 that the
A. BENARROCH loth December 1990 circuit changes at the beginning of smooth transitions of the
L. MERCADER
input signal, well before the Schmitt trigger, and even before a
ETSI Telecomunicacibn simpler inverter.
Universidad Politicnica de Madrid The CMOS circuit is shown in Fig. 3. It is made of a simple
Ciudad Uniuersitaria
Schmitt trigger and of two pairs of complementary transistors
28040 Madrid, Spain
....................
Referenus
1 BENARRWH, A., and MERCADER, L . : ‘Signal statistics from LMSS
propagation experiment in Europe’. Proc. of IEEE-International
TelecommunicationsSymposium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1990, pp.
227-232
2 BARm, R. M., and STIJTZMAN, w. L.: ‘Propagation modeling for land v
mobile satellite systems’. Proc. of the Mobile Satellite Conference, out
Pasadena, CA, 1988,pp. 95-100
3 BUTTERWORTH, J. S.: ‘Propagation measurements for land mobile
satellite systems at 1542 MHz’. Communications Research Center,
Dept. of Communications,Ottawa, Canada, 1984
4 SARLIWATARY, T., and RWKO, H.: ‘Propagation characteristics for
land mobile satellite systems in the 16GHz band‘. Proc. of Int.
Symp. on Antennas and Propagation, Tokyo, Japan, 1989, pp. .....................
77CL772 Fig. 3 CMOS circuit
300 ELECTRONICS L E V E R S 14th February 1991 Vol 27 No 4

~~
connected, respectively, to the input and the output of the
Schmitt trigger.
Analysis; W e note VsL and VnL which are, respectively, the
lower and higher threshold voltages of the Schmitt trigger.
The threshold voltages of the n M O S and PMOS transistors
are V,, and V,,, respectively. The power supply voltage is
V.,. V,, denotes the voltage at the output of the Schmitt
tngger. It will be shown that a proper operation requires the
following conditions:
Limitations and improvements: The fact that the output node is
in a high impedance state at both extreme regions of the curve
can be disadvantageous, especially when the operating fre-
quency is low in regard of the leakages. This problem can be
solved by adding two small transistors to the circuit (Fig. 4).
These transistors slightly modify the circuit characteristics, but
suppress the high impedance states.
T T T

VSL< VTN (1)

“0”i
and VI,-

VDD-IVTPI<KH

Let us examine the behaviour of the circuit for an input signal

moving slowly from 0 V to VDm When the input is around 0 V,
V,, is high. P4 and N5 are turned off, and N4 and P5 are
turned on. The output is in a high impedance state and keeps
the voltage stored in the output capacitance. It will be shown
that this voltage is VDmWhen the input reaches V,,, N5 turns
on. Because P4 is still turned off, the output node is dis-
charged through N4 and N5 and eventually reaches OV. If Km
drops under V,,, the output is again in high impedance,
keeping the zero voltage. When Kn reaches VDD- I V T p l , P5
tums off, but this has no influence on the output node. When
5. eventually reaches V,, the Schmitt trigger changes, V,,
drops to OV, N4 tums off, and P4 turns on. With both N4
and P5 off,the output enters a high-impedance state and stays
at V,,, provided that the leakage currents can be neglected. A
similar analysis made for the reverse curve shows a curve fall
at K. = V,, - I VTp1, and a high impedance state with V,,, =
V,, when K, becomes lower than 5,.
Fig. 4 Circuit with no high impedance state
If the output capacitance is very high, the transition of the
output signal can be long. If the input signal varies rapidly,
the output node may not be completely (diskharged before
the circuit enters a high impedance state. This can be avoided
by properly sizing transistors N1,N2, P1 and P2,or by buffer-
ing the output using an additional inverter.
Layout and measurements: Fig. 5 shows a microphotograph of
the circuit. A dense layout was achieved by careful arrange-
ment of the transistors. The circuit has been realised in a 2pm
CMOS technology. Fig. 6 shows measurement results, in

Sizing: The condition of eqn. 1 is required to avoid a partial

charge up or discharge of the output node at the two end
regions of the curve. If, for instance, V,, were greater than
V,,, in the region where V,, < 4.< V,,, N5 would be
(weakly) conducting, as well as N4.In place of being in a high
impedance state, the output would discharge through N4 and
N5. This condition determines the relative size of N1 and N2,
and of P1 and P2. The Schmitt trigger thresholds are’

and

Fig. 5 Circuit microphotograph

with

The size constraints are finally

(3) time ,us

Fig. 6 Input and output waveforms
and
which a sharp rectangular output pulse is derived from a

Jk) VTN
< VDD - VTN - I VTp I
slowly varying triangular input signal. The 50%-point delay
between the two curves is negative.

The sizes of transistors N4,N5, P4 and P5 are not critically
important, hut they need to be sized properly for rapid dis-
charge of the output capacitance. Also the sizes of transistors
N3 and P3 are not critical.
ELECTRONICS LETTERS 14th February 1991 Vol. 27
Applications: The ‘antihysteresis’ behaviour of this circuit
enables numerous possible applications: signal shaping (as
with the classical Schmitt trigger), pulse detection, transition
accelerating for slow transition signals, clock restoring, etc. A
No. 4 301

__
dense layout allows its use in place of classical inverters, with lower beam remains in its original position. Finally, the two
only a small increase in area. beams are combined by the polariser. The backward light
would be interrupted by the polarisation-dependent isolator.
P. DUCHENE 10th December 1990
spatial polarisation - spatial
M. J. DECLERCQ
walk - off dependent walk-off
Electronics Lnboratories, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology polariser ,solotor poloriser
EL-Ecublens, CH-1015 husanne, Switzerland
S. M. KANG
Coordinated Science hboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign
I l O l West Springfield Avenue, Urbana, I L 61801, USA

Reference
1 GL*SSER,L. A., and W B B E R P U ~ ~ ,D. w.: 'The design and analysis of CI
VLSI circuits' (Addison-Wesley,1985)
/ t - -t t\
b

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of polarisation-independent isolator and its

forward operation
NEW CONFIGURATION OF Polarisation-dependent isolator shown in diagram is assumed to
POLARISATION-INDEPENDENT ISOLATOR have cascaded (double)configuration
USING A POLARISATION-DEPENDENT ONE a Configuration
b Forward operation

Indexing t m : Isolators. Optical communication Experimenrc Polarisation-independent isolators for I = 1.3

A simple effectivemethod to realise polarisation-independent
optical isolators is proposed. The isolator consists of spatial
walk-off polarisers, ha-wave plates, and a conventional
polarisationdependent isolator. The measured forward loss
of the assembled isolator is 0.38dB and 0.32dB at 1.3 and
1.55flm wavelengths, respectively. The backward loss is
555dB and 633dB at 1.3 and 1 . 5 5 wavelengths,
~ respec-
tively.
Introduction: In optical communication systems using fibre
amplifiers, polarisation-independent isolators with high iso-
lation are highly desirable. Matsumoto first proposed a con-
figuration for a polarisation independent isolator.' The prin-
ciple is that the backward light focuses to points that are
offset from the core of the input fibre. All polarisation-
independent isolators investigated until now are based on this
principle.2-6 In these methods, however, the alignment of
components is complicated, especially when we try to obtain
high isolation by cascading them.'.' Considerable care should
be taken not to couple the backward light to the input fibre
under the low-insertion loss condition.
I present a new configuration for a polarisation-
independent isolator. This isolator uses a polarisation depen-
dent isolator, in which the backward light does not exist at the
input end. There is thus no need to consider the backward
light. We can easily obtain high isolation by using a conven-
tional cascaded polarisation-dependent isolator.'
Principal: The configuration of the isolator is shown sche-
matically in Fig. 1. The isolator consists of spatial walk-off
polarisers, half-wave plates, and a polarisation-dependent iso-
lator. We assume, for example, that the polarisation depen-
dent isolator is a cascaded (double) one. Consider what
happens to the forward-travelling light beam. Before the first
spatial walk-off polariser, both polarisations may exist in a
single optical beam. After the first polariser, the vertically pol-
arised light (the extraordinary ray) walks off in the upper
direction, whereas the horizontally polarised light (the ordi-
nary ray) remains in its original position. The upper beam
then passes through the first half-wave plate, where the polari-
sation of the beam rotates by 90". Thus both beams come to
have the same polarisation direction. The two beams can pass
through the polarisationdependent isolator. The polarisation
directions of both beams rotate by 90" while they pass
through the isolator. After that, the lower beam suffers
another 90" rotation due to the second half-wave plate. When
they pass through the second spatial walk-off polariser, the
upper beam walks off in the lower direction, whereas the
302
and for 1.55pm wavelengths were assembled by using rutile
crystals as spatial walk-off polarisers, half-wave plates, and
polarisation-dependent cascaded (double) isolators. The
polarisation-dependent isolators (6.0" diameter x 6.0 mm
thick) consist of polarising glass plates and (YbTbBi),Fe,O,,
Faraday rotators. The aperture of these isolators is 1.2"
in diameter. The polarisation-dependent isolator for
R = 1.30pm. exactly 1.298pm, has a forward loss of 0.3dB
and a backward loss of 59.8dB. Note that the isolator was
optimised at I = 1.314pm, and thus a backward loss at this
wavelength was 63 dB. The polarisation-dependent isolator for
I = 1.55pm has a forward loss of 0.2dB and a backward loss
of 654dB. Rutile crystals (5.2 x 5.2"' x 5.0" thick)
were antireflection coated. The transmittance of each rutile
polariser is more than 99.6%, which corresponds to the inser-
tion loss of less than 0.017dB. The polariser splits the optical
beam into the ordinary and the extraordinary rays by 0.5 mm.
The half-wave plates (5.0 x 3.0"') were made of quartz.
Thicknesses of the plates are 225pm (for I = 1.3pm) and
275pm (for I = 1.55pm), which correspond to 3A/2 thick-
nesses. The plates were antireflection coated, with reflectance
at each surface of less than 0.15%.
A collimated optical beam, whose diameter is -200pm,
was used in the measurements. Measured forward and back-
ward losses of assembled isolators are listed in Table 1. Pol-
arisation dependence of forward losses is less than 0.OldB.
Table 1 MEASURED FORWARD AND
BACKWARD LOSSES O F
ASSEMBLED ISOLATORS
Waveleneth Forward loss Backward loss
pm dB dB
1.30 0.38 55.5
1.55 0.32 63.5
Polarisation dependence of forward losses is 50.01 dB
Low insertion losses with high isolation have been obtained.
Return losses have not yet been evaluated. However, the
returning light from the isolator, if it exists, could be elimi-
nated by inserting the isolator into an optical beam with an
oblique angle, in much the same way as the conventional one.
Conclusion: A new configuration of polarisation-independent
isolators has been proposed. It has been confirmed that
assembled isolators have low insertion losses with high iso-
lation. The isolator could be used as an inline isolator by
using lens elements.
ELECTRONICS LEUERS 14th February 1991 Vol. 27 No. 4