ELCE 301

Electronic Circuits (ELCE 301)

Instructor: Dr. Mohammad Hashmi

Class Timings: Mon, Wed, and Fri (11:00 – 11:50)

Tutorial: Tue and Thu (11:00 – 11:50)

Office Hours: Tue (05:00 – 06:00), Thu (04:30 – 05:30)

TA: Ms. Meruyert Temirbekova – responsible for class management

and Quizzes and Assignments
 ELCE 301

Lecture – 27 Date: 28.10.2022

• CMOS Amplifier with Current Source Load
• Current Steering Circuit
• Cascode Configurations
• Differential Amplifier
 Important Dates ELCE 301

HA # 2
Problems Assigned: 19.10.2022
Quiz #2 happended
Submission Mode: Talk to TA
Submission Deadline: 28.10.2022

Quiz #3 (Optional)
Date: 14.11.2022 or 16.11.2022
Venue: To be confirmed
Syllabus: Topics covered till 24th Oct.

Final Report Submission

Final Date: 18.11.2022
 CS Amplifier with Constant Current Source ELCE 301

Transistors Q2, Q3, and Q4

form the current mirror that
act as the current source.
Note that transistor Q4 is a
load—it acts as the resistor in
the current mirror circuit.

source resistance 𝑟𝑜 of this current source

→ requires the small-signal analysis →
The important thing to realize when there are four (count em’) transistors in
analyzing this circuit is that the gate- this circuit, determining the small-signal
to-source voltage for transistors Q2, circuit must take forever! → the answer
Q3, and Q4 are DC values! is actually a NO.

??
A: In other words, the small signal voltages
𝑣𝑔𝑠 for each transistor are equal to zero: 𝒗𝒈𝒔𝟐 = 𝒗𝒈𝒔𝟑 = 𝒗𝒈𝒔𝟒 = 𝟎
 CS Amplifier with Constant Current Source ELCE 301

Q: But doesn’t the small-signal source

𝑣𝑖 (𝑡) create small-signal voltages and
currents throughout the amplifier?

A: For some part of the circuit yes, but

for most part of the circuit no!

Note that for transistor Q1 there will be small-signal voltages 𝑣𝑔𝑠1 (𝑡) and
𝑣𝑑𝑠1 (𝑡), along with 𝑖𝑑1 (𝑡). Likewise for transistor Q2, a small-signal voltage
𝑣𝑑𝑠2 (𝑡) and current 𝑖𝑑2 𝑡 will occur.

But, for the remainder of the voltages and currents in this circuit (e.g.,
𝑉𝐷𝑆4 , 𝑉𝐺𝑆2 , 𝐼𝐷3 ), the small-signal component is zero!
 CS Amplifier with Constant Current Source ELCE 301

Q: But wait! How can there be a small-

signal drain current 𝑖𝑑2 𝑡 through
transistor Q2 , without a corresponding
small-signal 𝑣𝑔𝑠2 (𝑡) gate-to-source
voltage?

A: Transistor Q2 is the important device

in this analysis.

• Note its gate-to-source voltage is a DC value (no small-signal component,

𝑣𝑔𝑠2 𝑡 = 0 ), yet there must be (by KCL) a small-signal drain current!
• This is a case where we must consider the 𝑣𝑑𝑠2
MOSFET output resistance 𝑟𝑜2 . The small-signal 𝑖𝑑2 = 𝑔𝑚2 𝑣𝑔𝑠2 −
𝑟𝑜2
drain current for a PMOS device is:
𝑣𝑑𝑠2
• Since 𝑣𝑔𝑠2 = 0 , this equation simplifies to: 𝑖𝑑2 = −
𝑟𝑜2
 CS Amplifier with Constant Current Source ELCE 301
• Equivalently, the small-signal • Thus for 𝑣𝑔𝑠2 = 0 , the small-signal
PMOS model is: model becomes:

• Thus, the small-signal

• Or, simplifying further:
model of the entire
current mirror is simply
the output resistance of
the MOSFET Q2 !

It is evident that the output resistance of the current mirror

𝑟𝑜 = 𝑟𝑜2
is simply equal to the output resistance of MOSFET Q2 !!!!
 CS Amplifier with Constant Current Source ELCE 301

is equivalent to
this circuit

• The resulting small-signal circuit of this amp is:

• the small signal voltage gain is:
𝐴𝑣 = −𝑔𝑚1 𝑟𝑜1 ||𝑟𝑜2 = 2 𝐾1 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑟𝑜1 ||𝑟𝑜2

• The output and input resistances of this amplifier

are the same as with the enhancement load: 𝑅𝑖 = ∞ 𝑅𝑜 = 𝑟𝑜1 ||𝑟𝑜2
 Current Steering Circuits ELCE 301
• A current mirror may consist of many MOSFET current sources!

This circuit is particularly

useful in integrated circuit
design, where one resistor R
is used to make multiple
current sources.

Q: What if we want to make the sources to have different current values? Do we

need to make additional current mirrors?
In other words, if each transistor 𝑄𝑛 is
A: NO!! identical to 𝑄𝑟𝑒𝑓 , then each current 𝐼𝐷𝑛
will equal reference current 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓 .
• Recall, the current mirror simply
ensures that the VGS of each transistor 𝑟𝑒𝑓
𝑉𝐺𝑆 = 𝑉𝐺𝑆1 = 𝑉𝐺𝑆2 = 𝑉𝐺𝑆3 = ⋯
is equal to the VGS of the reference:
• If each transistor is identical (i.e., 𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑓 2
𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 𝐾𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑉𝐺𝑆 − 𝑉𝑇
𝐾𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 𝐾1 = ⋯ , and 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑇 =
𝑉𝑇1 = 𝑉𝑇2 = ⋯) then: = 𝐾𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑉𝐺𝑆𝑛 − 𝑉𝑇𝑛 2 = 𝐼𝐷𝑛
 Current Steering Circuits ELCE 301
• But, consider what happens if the MOSFETS are not identical. Specifically,
consider the case where 𝐾𝑛 ≠ 𝐾𝑟𝑒𝑓 (but 𝑉𝑇𝑛 = 𝑉𝑇 𝑅𝑒𝑓 ).
𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑓 2 The drain
• Then 𝐼𝐷𝑛 will be: 𝐷𝑛
𝐼 = 𝐾 𝑉
𝑛 𝐺𝑆𝑛 − 𝑉𝑇𝑛
2
= 𝐾 𝑉
𝑛 𝐺𝑆 − 𝑉𝑇 current is a
𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝐾𝑛 scaled value of
= 𝐾𝑛 = 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓
𝐾𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝐾𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓 !

For example, if 𝐾1 is twice that of 𝐾𝑟𝑒𝑓 (i.e., 𝐾1 = 2𝐾𝑟𝑒𝑓 ), then 𝐼𝐷1 will be
twice as large as 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓 (i.e., 𝐼𝐷1 = 2𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓 ).

𝑊
𝐾𝑛 𝐿 𝑛 𝐼𝐷𝑛
= =
𝐾𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑊 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓
𝐿 𝑟𝑒𝑓

From the standpoint of integrated

circuit design, we can change the
value of K by modifying the
MOSFET channel width-to-
length ratio (W/L) for each
transistor.
 Example – 1 ELCE 301
• Determine all the currents in the following and find the value of R

W / L 2
 pCox  20 A / V 2
I D 2  I REF
W / L 1
nCox  50 A / V 2
10 / 1
 25 A *  50  A
VTP  1V 5 /1
VTN  1V
W / L 3
I D 3  I REF  125 A
W / L 1
I D 4  I REF  25 A

W / L 5
I D5  I D 4  25 A
W / L 4
 Example – 1 (contd.) ELCE 301

2I D 4
VGSP  VTP 
5  (VGSP )  VGSN  (5)  pCox (W / L)4
R
I REF
2 I D1
VGSN  VTN 
10  VGSP  VGSN nCox (W / L)1
R
I REF

• The resistor R can be replaced by an active

load such as the PFET shown here → what
will be its W/L?
 Increasing the Gain of Amplifier ELCE 301
• How can we increase the voltage gain obtained from the basic Amplifier?
→ The answer lies in finding a way to raise the level of the output
resistance of both the amplifying transistor and the load transistor.
we seek a circuit that passes
the current gmvi provided by
the amplifying transistor right
through, but increases the
resistance ro1 from to a much
larger value
The “black box” takes in
the output current of Q1
and passes it to the output
→ consisting of the same
controlled source gmvi but
with increased resistance
of Kro1.
 Increasing the Gain of Amplifier ELCE 301
 The black passes the current
but raises the resistance level,
it is a current buffer.
 It is the dual of the voltage
buffer (the source and
emitter followers), which
passes the voltage but lowers
the resistance level.

Two important comments:

 It is not sufficient to raise the output resistance of the amplifying transistor
only. We also need to raise the output resistance of the current-source load.
Obviously, we can use a current buffer to do this also.
 Placing a CG (or a CB) circuit on top of the CS (or CE) amplifying
transistor to implement the current-buffering action is called cascoding.
 Cascode Amplifier ELCE 301
• Cascoding refers to the use of a transistor connected in the common-gate (or
the common-base) configuration to provide current buffering for the output
of a common-source (or a common-emitter) amplifying transistor.

the cascode transistor passes the current gmvi

to the output node while raising the resistance
level by a factor K.
 Cascode Amplifier – Small Signal ELCE 301

 Observe that the voltage at the (d1, s2) node is equal to

–vgs2. Writing a node equation for that node, we have:
 Cascode Amplifier – Small Signal ELCE 301

• This expression has a simple and elegant interpretation: The CG transistor

Q2 raises the output resistance of the amplifier by the factor (gm2ro2) which
is its intrinsic gain.
• At the same time, the CG transistor simply passes the current (gm1vi) to the
output node.
Cascode Amplifier – Small Signal ELCE 301

In situations when:
gm1 = gm2 = gm 𝐴𝑣𝑜 = − 𝑔𝑚 𝑟𝑜 2
= −𝐴20
ro1 = ro2 = ro

Thus cascading results in increasing the gain

magnitude from 𝐴0 to 𝐴20