Design of a Low Drop-Out Voltage Regulator for SoC

Applications in a 130nm CMOS Technology.

The Classical Structure of a LDO
Regulator.
• Power transistor.
• Error amplifier.
• Feedback network.
Important LDO issues.
• Stability.
• Fast transient response.

O. I. R. Palacios, “A capacitor-free low drop-out regulator for low power system-on-chip applications," Master’s thesis, Dept. Elect. Eng., COPPE
Univ., RJ, Brazil, 2013.
Razavi. “Design of analog CMOS circuits ”.
Electrical specifications.

PARAMETER SPECIFICATION
Dropout voltage 200 mV
Output Voltage 1.2 V
Output Current 50mA
Cout 100 pF
Vref 700 mV
Quiescent Current Minimum
Settle Time Minimum
Power transistor.
• P-type transistor.
• It will be operating in the triode region.
• Low area.

= .
<<<

=
Error amplifier.
• It has a good output swing.
• It is a Two-stage amplifier.
• It is a relatively simple amplifier.
Stability.
• The transconductance, output resistance and lumped parasitic
capacitance of the ith stage are represented by gmi, Ri and Ci.

Annajirao Garimella, “Pole-Zero Analysis of Low-Dropout (LDO) Regulators: A Tutorial Overview”.

Frequency compensation scheme.
• It sets the dominant pole at the output of the first stage.
• It creates two LHP zeros.

A. Garimella, M. W. Rashid, and P. M. Furth, “Reverse nested miller compensation using current buffers in a three-stage ldo," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and
Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 57, pp. 250{254, April 2010.
Frequency compensation scheme.
• It sets the dominant pole at the output of the first stage.
• It creates two LHP zeros.

A. Garimella, M. W. Rashid, and P. M. Furth, “Reverse nested miller compensation using current buffers in a three-stage ldo," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and
Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 57, pp. 250{254, April 2010.
Frequency compensation scheme.
• It sets the dominant pole at the output of the first stage.
• It creates two LHP zeros.
Frequency compensation scheme.
Transfer Function (paper):

A. Garimella, M. W. Rashid, and P. M. Furth, “Reverse nested miller compensation using current buffers in a three-stage ldo," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and
Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 57, pp. 250{254, April 2010.
Frequency compensation scheme.
Transfer Function (paper):

𝐶𝑐 1 𝑔𝑚3
𝑤𝑝 2=
𝐶𝑐 2 𝐶𝐿 𝐶𝑐 1>𝐶𝑐 2
A. Garimella, M. W. Rashid, and P. M. Furth, “Reverse nested miller compensation using current buffers in a three-stage ldo," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and
Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 57, pp. 250{254, April 2010.
Troubles.
Frequency compensation scheme.
Transfer Function (Matlab):

A(s) =

𝑏2 ≈+…+ 𝑅1 𝑅 2 𝑅 3 𝑔𝑚2 ( 𝐶 𝑐2 𝐶 𝑔𝑑 − 𝐶 𝑐1 𝐶 𝑔𝑑 + 𝐶 𝑐2 𝐶 𝐿 +𝐶 𝑐 2 𝐶 𝑐1 )
𝑪𝒄𝟐>𝑪𝒄 𝟏
)

𝒈𝒎 𝑪𝑮 >𝒈𝒎𝑩𝑼

Annajirao Garimella, “Pole-Zero Analysis of Low-Dropout (LDO) Regulators: A Tutorial Overview”.

Frequency compensation scheme.
Transfer Function (Matlab):

A(s) =

𝑏2 ≈+…+ 𝑅1 𝑅 2 𝑅 3 𝑔𝑚2 ( 𝐶 𝑐2 𝐶 𝑔𝑑 − 𝐶 𝑐1 𝐶 𝑔𝑑 + 𝐶 𝑐2 𝐶 𝐿 +𝐶 𝑐 2 𝐶 𝑐1 )
𝑪𝒄𝟐>𝑪𝒄 𝟏
)

𝒈𝒎 𝑪𝑮 >𝒈𝒎𝑩𝑼

Annajirao Garimella, “Pole-Zero Analysis of Low-Dropout (LDO) Regulators: A Tutorial Overview”.

Frequency compensation scheme.
Transfer Function (Matlab):
Applying the assumption of widely-separated poles:
=
A(s) = >>
;

A(S) =

𝟐 𝒈𝒎𝑪𝑮 𝒈𝒎 𝟐 𝒈𝒎 𝑪𝑮
𝒘 𝒑𝟒 ≈
𝑪 𝟏(𝑪 𝟐+𝑪 𝒈𝒅 )
Transient response.
• A Large output capacitor improves the transient response.
• A large closed-loop bandwidth improves it as well.
• Low changes in the output current.
Transient response.
Transient response.
Corners simulations.