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The - Cross-Coupled - PairPart - III - A - Circuit - For - All - Seasons
The - Cross-Coupled - PairPart - III - A - Circuit - For - All - Seasons
Behzad Razavi
I
In this article, we study applications
of the cross-coupled pair (XCP) in
analog and RF circuits. The XCP can
serve as a negative resistance or a
negative impedance converter in
VCC VCC VDD
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2014.2369332 Figure 2: (a) The addition of XCP to raise the gain and (b) the equivalent circuit for small-
Date of publication: 11 February 2015 signal analysis.
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where g mb ^. 0.2g mh denotes the
transconductance with respect to the VDD VDD = 0.5 V
body terminal. The two transistors Vb Vb
+ –
Vin
Vin Vb Vb
are, of course, placed in separate M1 M2 M3 M2 M4
M1
n -wells. Also, the drain voltages
must remain above approximately Vout
Req
VDD - 0.5 V to ensure the drain-well
(a) (b)
forward bias negligibly affects the
transistors’ performance.
Cross coupling through the bulk Figure 3: (a) An XCP using the bulk terminal and (b) the first stage of an op amp using the
XCP.
proves useful in low-voltage designs.
Shown in Figure 3(b) is an amplifier
example [7], where VDD . 0.5 V and
the XCP raises the voltage gain. Here, VDD VDD
the input common-mode (CM) level
and Vb can be near zero while the four L1 L2 L1 L2
RL RL
transistors are accorded sufficient
VDS so as to operate in the saturation
+ – + –
region. (The CM feedback circuit [7] is Vin Vin Vin Vin
not shown.) We point out that, in the M1 M2 M1 M2
M3 M4
presence of mismatches, the XCP can
(a) (b)
regenerate and cause latch-up if its
loop gain is equal to unity or higher.
Figure 4: (a) A simple PA output stage and (b) the use of XCP to reduce input capacitance.
The design in [7] employs a replica
loop to avoid this situation.
Output Stage
VDD
In this article, we
study applications RD RD
Vout
of the cross-coupled
M1 M2
pair in analog and X Y
RF circuits.
Vin
M3 M4
The XCP has also been used to
improve the performance of RF CC
power amplifiers (PAs). In the simple
output stage shown in Figure 4(a), M 1
and M 2 are wide enough to carry a NIC
high current, thus presenting a large
input capacitance. The preceding Figure 5: The use of NIC to increase bandwidth in a broadband transmitter.
stage therefore tends to consume a
high power. This issue can be alle-
viated if some of the input capaci-
tance is driven by the output port, Termination
i.e., if a portion of W 1, 2 is reconfig- Resistors
ured as an XCP [Figure 4(b)] [8]. In
the limit, M 3 and M 4 form an oscil-
lator along with L 1 and L 2 that is
ESD
ESD
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of C C must therefore be chosen low
VDD enough to avoid these effects.
Another interface exhibiting a high
L1 L2 capacitance occurs at I/O pads that
incorporate electrostatic discharge
X Y protection and hence limit the band-
M1 M2 width. As shown in Figure 6, an NIC
M3 M4
can be tied to these pads, cancelling
CC
part of the capacitance. This circuit
can be combined with a T-coil for fur-
ther bandwidth enhancement [10].
The NIC finds other interesting
applications, for example, in digi-
Figure 7: The use of NIC as a fine tuning element.
tally controlled oscillators requir-
ing a fine frequency step size [11].
XCP as Negative Impedance performance. If only C GS is consid- Consider the arrangement shown in
Converter ered, the admittance presented by Figure 7, where M 1 and M 2 act as an
As mentioned in the first article in the NIC emerges as [9] oscillator, and M 3 and M 4 as an NIC
this series, the XCP can operate as an [11]. It is possible to “attenuate” the
impedance negator [a.k.a. a negative C GS s effect of C C at X and Y by a large
impedance converter (NIC)]. The sim- 1- factor, thus providing fine frequency
gm
YNIC = - . (2)
C GS
plicity of this topology makes it supe- ( + 2) 1 + 1
rior to conventional NICs that employ CC gm CC s
op amps. A common application is to The XCP finds wide
create a negative capacitance that For frequencies well below the tran- application as a
can cancel the positive capacitance sistors’ fT (. 2rg m /C GS ), the second negative resistance
seen at a port, thereby improving the term in the numerator is negligible, in the design of
speed. Figure 5 depicts an example in yielding a capacitance equal to - C C oscillators.
broadband transmitter design [9]. in series with a resistance equal to
With the high current necessary - (C GS /C C + 2) /g m . The key point
in the output stage, M 1 and M 2 tend here is that C GS raises the magni- tuning. This can be seen by express-
to be wide, exhibiting a large input tude of the series resistance and ing the NIC admittance from (2), with
capacitance. The NIC cancels some hence lowers the Q of the negative C GS = 0, as
of this capacitance, thus increasing capacitance.
the bandwidth at X and Y. Second, in Figure 5, the NIC can - 2g m C 2C ~ 2
YNIC (j~) =
The NIC design entails two issues. form a relaxation oscillator with R 1 4C 2C ~ 2 + g 2m
First, at high speeds, the capaci- and R 2 or at least cause significant g 2m jC C ~
- 2 2 2 ,
(3)
tances of M 3 and M 4 affect the NIC ringing in broadband data. The value 4C C ~ + g m
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The XCP is an integral part of the middle, then the latch decision [4] M. A. Sanduleanu and J. P. Frambach,
“1GHz tuning range, low phase noise LC
comparators and will be studied in is “smeared.” oscillator with replica biasing common-
that role in the next issue. 2) A divide-by-two circuit incor- mode control and quadrature outputs,” in
Proc. European Solid-State Circuits Conf.,
porates two instances of a CML Sept. 2001, pp. 506–509.
Questions for the Reader latch with inductive peaking. Can [5] M. Soyuer, J. K. A. Burghartz, and M. D.
1) Can we use the NIC in a PA pre- the resistance in series with the Hulvey, “A 3-V 4-GHz nMOS voltage-con-
trolled oscillator with integrated reson-
driver to cancel the input capaci- inductors be reduced to zero? ator,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 37,
tance of the output stage? With a zero resistance, the pp. 2042–2045, Dec. 2002.
[6] A. Mazzanti and P. Andreani, “Class-C har-
2) How does the thermal noise contrib- divider reduces to an injection- monic CMOS VCOs, with a general result
uted by M 1 and M 2 in Figure 3(b) locked quadrature LC oscillator, on phase noise,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits,
vol. 43, no. 12, pp. 2716–2729, Dec. 2008.
to Vout compare to that by a regu- potentially operating at a higher [7] S. Chatterjee, Y. Tsividis, and P. Kinget, “0.5-V
lar XCP? speed but with a much more limited analog circuit techniques and their applica-
tion in OTA and filter design,” IEEE J. Solid-
You can share your thoughts by lock range. State Circuits, vol. 40, pp. 2373–2387, Dec.
sending me e-mail. 2005.
[8] K. C. Tsai and P. R. Gray, “A 1.9-GHz, 1-W
CMOS class-E power amplifier for wire-
Answers to Last Issue’s Questions References less communications,” IEEE J. Solid-State
[1] P. Basedeau and Q. Huang, “A 1-GHz 1.5-V Circuits, vol. 34, pp. 962–970, July 1999.
1) Must we turn off M 1 and M 2 in monolithic LC oscillator in 1-μm CMOS,” [9] S. Galal and B. Razavi, “10-Gb/s limiting
in Proc. European Solid-State Circuits amplifier and laser/modulator driver in
Figure 8 as we activate the XCP Conf., Sept. 1994, pp. 172–175. 0.18um CMOS technology,” IEEE J. Solid-State
even if the circuit is to operate as [2] B. De Muer, M. Borremans, M. Steyaert, Circuits, vol. 38, pp. 2138–2146, Dec. 2003.
an amplifier rather than as a latch? and G. Li Puma, “A 2-GHz low-phase-noise [10] S. Galal and B. Razavi, “40-Gb/s ampli-
integrated LC-VCO set with flicker noise fier and ESD protection circuit in 0.18 μm
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high rate may affect the decision State Circuits, vol. 35, pp. 1034–1038, July cuits, vol. 39, pp. 2389–2396, Dec. 2004.
2000. [11] L. Fanori, A. Liscidini, and R. Castello, “3.3GHz
made by the latch if M 1 and M 2 are [3] W. De Cock and M. Steyaert, “A CMOS DCO with a frequency resolution of 150Hz for
not turned off. For example, if Vin1 is 10GHz voltage controlled LC-oscillator all-digital PLL,” in Int. Solid-State Circuits Conf.
with integrated high-Q inductor,” in Proc. Dig. Tech. Papers, Feb. 2010, pp. 48–49.
less than Vin2 at the beginning of the European Solid-State Circuits Conf., Sept.
clock transition but exceeds Vin2 in 2001, pp. 498–501.
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