BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE, PILANI K K BIRLA GOA CAMPUS

Microelectronics Circuits (ECE/EEE/INSTR F244) Tutorial on Differential Amplifiers

Question 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Consider the circuit of figure below, where the inputs are tied to a common-mode level. Assume M1 and M2 are

identical and so are M3 and M4 .

(a) Neglecting channel-length modulation, calculate the voltage at node N.

(b) Invoking symmetry, determine the voltage at node Y.

(c) What happens to the results obtained in (a) and (b) if V𝐷𝐷 changes by a small amount ΔV?

Question 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Design the circuit of figure below for a voltage gain of 20 and a power budget of 1 mW with V𝐷𝐷 = 1.8 V. Assume

M1 operates at the edge of saturation if the input common-mode level is 1 V. Also, 𝜇 𝑛 C𝑜𝑥 = 2𝜇 𝑝 C𝑜𝑥 =100 𝜇A/V2 ,

V𝑇 𝐻,𝑛 = 0.5 V, V𝑇 𝐻, 𝑝 = −0.4 V, 𝜆 𝑛 = 0.5𝜆 𝑝 = 0.1 V−1 .

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Question 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Design the telescopic cascode of figure below for a voltage gain of 600 and a power budget of 4 mW. Assume an

(equilibrium) overdrive of 100 mV for the NMOS devices and 150 mV for the PMOS devices. If V𝐷𝐷 = 1.8 V,

𝜇 𝑛 C𝑜𝑥 =100 𝜇A/V2 , 𝜇 𝑝 C𝑜𝑥 =50 𝜇A/V2 , and 𝜆 𝑛 = 0.1 V−1 , determine the required value of 𝜆 𝑝 . Assume M1 -M4

are identical and so are M5 -M8 .

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