Analogue Building Blocks

Part 1: Current Mirrors

for Electronic Circuits http://cktse.eie.polyu.edu.hk/eie304

by Prof. Michael Tse

September 2004

A Quick Motivation
Lets look at a typical operational amplier circuit. This circuit was presented to you in BE as a triangle having ideally innite input resistance and innitely large voltage gain.
input 1

output

input 2

+ gain = Rin =

What is actually inside this triangle? How to design such a circuit? I will introduce in this course some basic building blocks; later you will nd them useful in constructing many electronic circuits including this magic triangle!

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

Design Problems:
input 1

output

input 2

+ gain = Rin =

Input: How can we make sure the inputs draw little current? How can we make sure the amplier does not read excessive noise (in the form of common-mode signals)? Gain: How can we make sure the gain is high enough? Output: How can we make sure the output can deliver current without being loaded down?
C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

Differential amplier serving as input

Common-emitter stage, with mirror serving as active load Class A output stage to ensure low output resistance.
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Solution Preview
Mirror/active loads

CE gain stage differential amp

output stage

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

What we are going to study

The rst series of lectures in this course will introduce the essential building blocks of analogue circuits. I will choose three basic types of building blocks to focus on. They are:

Types Current mirrors Differential Ampliers/ input stages Power Ampliers / output stages

Functions Used as current sources and active loads Provides common-mode rejection

Delivers current to load, i.e., reduces output resistance

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

Current Mirrors
Primary purpose: to make a current source V+ R
i.e., the current is always equal to I even when R changes. Ideally, a current source maintains a xed current I regardless of its load!

Questions:
How to make such a current source out of transistors? How to set the current magnitude?

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

Simple Current Mirror

Lets consider a simple conguration. Obviously, we have +Vcc Note that this current will not change if R is xed. So, logically speaking, if we can copy this current to another path where we wish to make a current source, then we have effectively created a current source of value IREF in that path.

IREF

bias

Now the problem is HOW TO COPY CURRENT. Hint: the collector current of a BJT is dependent on its VBE only.

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

Simple Current Mirror

Idea: twins!!! If two identical BJTs are having the same VBE, they must have the same collector current.

+Vcc

IREF

RL
I IREF

It does not matter what RL is!

Effectively we have a current source. +Vcc

RL

I IREF provided the base current is small compared to I.

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Simple Current Mirror

= BJT twins connected back to back
Use PNP for grounded load +Vcc +Vcc

R
IREF

Rload
I IREF IREF I IREF

Rload

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

Main Problem of the Simple Current Mirror

Try it out in the lab! We have IREF equal
+15V

and expect I to be the same as IREF.

Take three measurements:

IREF 15k

I IREF

1.

When Rload = 15 k, we get I very close to 0.9533 mA! When Rload = 8 k, we get I about 1.01 mA, slightly (still signicantly) greater than 0.9533 mA! When Rload = 6 k, we get I even bigger!

Rload

2.

3.

So, this current mirror is not a very good current source because it does not stay constant for all loads.
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What is the Problem?

Lets look at the ideal case.
IC1

+15V
E 0.9533mA B

Q1
VCE1 They have
same characteristic because they have the same VBE.

Q1
C

Q2
IC2

IC1

I IREF

IC2

0.7V

15V

15k

IREF

Rload

0.9533mA

Q2
7.37V 15V

Note: IC1 IREF

VCE2

So, IC2 should be same as IC1! Hence, I IREF.

BUT, why is IC2 different from IC1 in the real circuit, giving I IREF?
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The Devil is Early!

The BJT characteristic is not at in active region.
IC1

+15V
E
0.9533mA

Early effect

Q1
VCE1 They have
same characteristic because they have the same VBE.

Q1
C

Q2
IC2

IC1

I IREF

IC2

0.7V

15V

15k

IREF

Rload

> 0.9533mA

Q2
7V 15V

Note: IC1 IREF

VCE2

So, IC2 cannot be same as IC1, depending on Rload.

Clearly, I will vary with Rload, i.e., I IREF.

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How bad?
Lets do some precise calculation. Assume that Q1 and Q2 are identical, and they have an Early voltage of 100 V.
IC
Early voltage VA=100V IC1 = 0.9533mA

Early effect

Q1=Q2
0.7V 7V 15V

100V

VCE

IC2? 0.9533

0.7

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Can we x this problem?

Solution to precise current source.
Problem review: VCE for Q1 is xed, but VCE for Q2 varies with Rload. Thus, IC2 varies with load. Logical x: Make VCE for Q1 and Q2 constant. But they need not be equal! As long as VCE1 and VCE2 do not change with load, the current IC2 can be xed.

+Vcc

Rload
IREF
1.4V

R
1.4V

Q3
0.7V

Lets x VCE1 and VCE2 so that they have a xed difference, regardless of Rload.
Q1
0.7V

This is the clever Wilson Mirror!

Q2

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

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Wilson Mirror
Now VCE1 = 1.4 V and VCE2 = 0.7 V. So, the current IC2 will not change even when Rload changes. Note that IREF IC1 and Iout = IC3 IC2. IC
IC1 IC2

+Vcc

Rload
IREF
1.4V

R
1.4V 0.7V

Iout
Q3

Q1=Q2

IC1
Q1

IC2
0.7V

Q2

0.7V

1.4V

15V

VCE

Remember that IC1 IC2, but it does not matter as long as they dont change. This current source is still a good current source because once we have designed it to give a certain Iout, it keeps this Iout for all Rload (of course, for as long as no transistors saturate!).
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Wilson Mirror for Grounded Loads

For grounded loads, we use PNP transistors. The corresponding Wilson construction is:
E

Q1
C

Q2
IC2 Again, we have IC1 and IC2 xed, and IREF IC1 and Iout = IC3 IC2

IC1

Q3 Iout IREF

Rload

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Widlar Mirror (for small current)

Suppose we wish to build a current source which has a magnitude much smaller than the reference IREF. Idea: Make VBE2 smaller than VBE1 because IC is proportional to exp(VBE/VT), where VT is thermal voltage ( 25 mV at room temp). Clearly, or So, a small difference in VBE can give a large difference in IC.

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Widlar Mirror (for small current)

+Vcc For this circuit, we have

R
IREF

Rload
Iout

From

Q1

we get

Q2

R2
Thus, we can nd IC2 numerically, which is much smaller than IC1.
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Widlar Mirror Example

+15V
14.3k

Suppose we want Iout = 10 A.

Rload
Iout

First, we have

IREF
Then, using the formula

Q1

Q2

R2

we can nd R2:

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Further Applications
Current Copier
+Vcc
E

Q1
C

Q2 IREF IREF

Q3 IREF

Q4
common base line

IREF

Rload1

Rload2

Rload3

Note: if either one of Q1, Q2, Q3 saturates (e.g., due to disconnected load), its base will draw current from the common base line, lowering the current supply to the other normal loads. Can we solve this problem? Hint: supply current to the common base line.
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Further Applications
Improved Current Copier
+Vcc
E

Q1
C

Q2 IREF

Q3 IREF

Q4
common base line

IREF

IREF

Rload1

Rload2

Rload3

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

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Further Applications
Current Copier/Source with Different Current Ratios
+Vcc
E

+Vcc
E B

Q1
C

Q2

Q3

Q1
C

Q2

Q3

2IREF IREF

0.5IREF IREF

Rload

Rload

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Further Applications
Active Loads
+Vcc
Consider the CE amplier. The gain is gmRL. If we want a high gain, we need a large RL. But a large RL would need a large Vcc to maintain the active operation! IMPRACTICAL! IC

RL

vi

vo

Vcc

VCE
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Further Applications
Active Loads
+Vcc
Can we have a super load resistor which has large RL at the operating point, but can allow small Vcc? Lets imagine! IC
where ro is output resistance of QL

QL

vi

vo

Vcc

VCE

Just the transistor itself!

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

Gain = gmro
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Summary
We have studied 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Simple current mirrors Problems due to Early effect Wilson mirror Widlar mirror Applications Current sources Current copiers Active loads

C.K. Tse: Analogue Building Blocks

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