ELC2702

Electronic Circuits and Systems

Dr. Mohamed El-Dakroury

mdakroury@h-eng.helwan.edu.eg
 Module 1

Current Mirror
 Temperature and Supply-Voltage
Dependence of Bias Current
• Circuits should be designed to operate
properly over a range of supply voltages and
temperatures.
• For the biasing scheme shown below, I1
depends on the temperature as well as the
supply voltage, since VT and IS depend on
temperature.
I1 = I S eVBE / VT

R2
VBE  VCC
R1 + R2
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 3 Instructor: mdakroury
 Concept of a Current Mirror
• Circuit designs to provide a supply- and
temperature-independent current exist, but
require many transistors to implement.
→ “golden current source”
• A current mirror is used to replicate the
current from a “golden current source” to
other locations.

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 4 Instructor: mdakroury

 (a) A current source; and (b) a current sink.

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 5 Instructor: mdakroury

 Current Mirror Circuitry
• Diode-connected QREF produces an output voltage
VX that forces Icopy1 to be equal to IREF, if Q1 is
identical to QREF.
Current mirror concept Generation of required VBE Current Mirror Circuitry

 I copy1   I REF 

VX = VT ln   = V ln  
 T I 
I S ,1  I S ,1   S , REF 
I copy1 = I REF
I S , REF
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 6 Instructor: mdakroury
 Current Mirror with Discrete BJTs
• If QREF and Q1 are discrete NPN BJTs, IREF and
Icopy1 can differ dramatically, due to IS
mismatch.

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 7 Instructor: mdakroury

 Bad Current Mirror Example 1

• If the collector and base of QREF are not

shorted together, there will not be a path
for the base currents to flow, so that Icopy is
zero.
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 8 Instructor: mdakroury
 Bad Current Mirror Example 2

• Although it provides a path for base currents

to flow, this biasing approach is no better than
a resistive voltage divider.
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 9 Instructor: mdakroury
 Current Mirror with Discrete BJTs
• If QREF and Q1 are discrete NPN BJTs, IREF and
Icopy1 can differ dramatically, due to IS
mismatch.

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 10 Instructor: mdakroury

 Multiple Copies of IREF
• Multiple copies of IREF can be generated at
different locations by applying the current
mirror concept to multiple transistors.

IS, j
I copy , j = I REF
I S , REF
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 11 Instructor: mdakroury
 Current Scaling
• By scaling the emitter area of Qj by a factor of n
with respect to the emitter area of QREF, Icopy,j is
scaled by a factor of n with respect to IREF.
– This is equivalent to placing n unit-sized transistors in
parallel.

I copy , j = nI REF
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 12 Instructor: mdakroury
 Example: Scaled Currents

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 13 Instructor: mdakroury

 Fractional Scaling
• A fraction of IREF can be created in Q1 by
scaling up the emitter area of QREF.

V  V 
I REF = 3I S exp  X  I copy = I S exp X 
 VT   VT 

1
I copy = I REF
3
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 14 Instructor: mdakroury
Example: Different Mirroring Ratios
• Using the concept of current scaling and
fractional scaling, Icopy1 = 0.05mA and Icopy2 =
0.5mA, derived from a single 0.2mA reference
current source (IREF).

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 15 Instructor: mdakroury

 Basic Current Mirror

The basic BJT current mirror.

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 Analysis of basic current mirror

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 A Simple Current Source

For Finite β

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 18 Instructor: mdakroury

 Effect of Base Currents
I copy I copy
I REF = I C , REF + +
n 

I copy
I C , REF =
n

nI REF
I copy =
1
1 + (n + 1)

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 19 Instructor: mdakroury
 Improved Mirroring Accuracy
• Use QF (rather than IREF) to supply the base
currents of QREF and Q1, reduce the mirroring
error by a factor of .
I REF = I B, F + I C , REF I copy I copy
IC ,F  I E ,F = +
n 
I copy  1 
I B,F  2  + 1
I copy  n 
I C , REF =
n
nI REF
I copy =
1
1 + 2 (n + 1)

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 20 Instructor: mdakroury
 Current Mirror with base-current Compensation

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 21 Instructor: mdakroury

Different Mirroring Ratio Accuracy
I REF = I B, F + 4I C , REF I copy1 I copy2 I C , REF
IC ,F  + +4
  
15 I copy1
I B,F 
2

I REF
I copy1 =
15
4+ 2

10 I REF
I C , REF = I copy1 I copy 2 =
15
4+ 2

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 22 Instructor: mdakroury
 Wilson Current Mirror

The Wilson bipolar current mirror: (a) circuit showing analysis to determine the current transfer ratio; (b) determining the output resistance.

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 23 Instructor: mdakroury

 The Widlar Current Source

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 Example

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 Problem

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 Problem

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 27 Instructor: mdakroury

 PNP Current Mirror
• A PNP BJT current mirror can be used as a
current-source load for an NPN BJT amplifier
stage.

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 28 Instructor: mdakroury

 Generation of IREF for a
PNP-BJT Current Mirror

• Neglecting base currents, the currents

flowing through QM and QREF2 are the
ELC2702 Fallsame.
2022 Lecture 2, Slide 29 Instructor: mdakroury
 MOS Current Mirror
• The motivation behind a current mirror is to duplicate a
(scaled version of the) “golden current” to other locations.
Current mirror concept Generation of required VGS Current Mirror Circuitry

W  W 
I REF = nCox   (VX − VTH )
1
nCox   (VX − VTH )2
1
I copy1 =
2

2  L  REF 2  L 1

VX =
2 I REF
 nCox (W / L )1
+ VTH 1
I copy1 =
(W / L )1
I REF
(W / L )REF
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 30 Instructor: mdakroury
 MOS Current Mirror – NOT!
• This is not a current mirror, because the relationship between
VX and IREF is not clearly defined.

• The only way to clearly define VX with IREF is to use a diode-

connected MOS since it provides square-law I-V relationship.
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 31 Instructor: mdakroury
 Diode-Connected MOSFETs
Diode-connected NMOSFET Diode-connected PMOSFET

1 1
RX = ro1 RY = ro 2
g m1 gm2

Small-signal analysis circuit Small-signal analysis circuit

• Note that the small-signal model of a PMOSFET is identical to

that of an NMOSFET
ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 32 Instructor: mdakroury
 Example: Current Scaling
• MOS current mirrors can be used to scale IREF up or down
– I1 = 0.2mA; I2 = 0.5mA

 = 0:

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 33 Instructor: mdakroury

Impact of Channel-Length Modulation
 nCox   (VX − VTH )2 1 +  (VDS1 − VD , sat )
1 W 
I copy1 =
 0 2  L 1
W 
 nCox   (VX − VTH )2 1 +  (VDS1 − VGS + VTH )
1
=
2  L 1

I REF =  nCox   (VX − VTH ) 1 +  (VGS − VD ,sat )

1 W  2

2  L  REF
W 
=  nCox   (VX − VTH ) 1 + VTH 
1 2

2  L  REF

(W / L )1 1 +  (VDS1 − VGS + VTH ) (W / L )1   (VDS1 − VGS ) 

I copy1 = I REF = I REF 1 + 
(W / L )REF 1 + VTH (W / L )REF  1 + VTH 

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 34 Instructor: mdakroury

 CMOS Current Mirror

ELC2702 Fall 2022 Lecture 2, Slide 35 Instructor: mdakroury