C IRCU IT INTU ITIONS

Ali Sheikholeslami

Noise and Distortion, Part III

W
Welcome to the 41st article in the
“Circuit Intuitions” column series.
As the title suggests, each article
provides insights and intuitions into
circuit design and analysis. These
tion has a nonconstant derivative
with respect to v in, as illustrated
in Figure 1(d), indicating that the
small-signal gain changes
with the input signal level,
we will see, differential circuits
can help eliminate this asym-
metry and its associated even-
order distortion.
■ Observation 2: The
Distortion, which
articles are aimed at undergraduate leading to distortion. Two voltage gain varies
can be measured
students but may serve the interests observations from Figure significantly with the
by the ratio of
of other readers as well. If you read 1 will guide us in reduc- harmonic power input voltage, amplify-
this article, I would appreciate your ing distortion. to the input tone ing the signals near 0 V
comments and feedback, as well as ■ Observation 1: The power, is a strong more than signals fur-
your requests and suggestions for function of Figure 1(c) function of the ther from 0 V. This gain
future articles in this series. Please is asymmetric, be- input amplitude variation is a source of
e-mail me your comments: ali@ece. having differently and increases distortion. As we will see,
utoronto.ca. for posit ive a nd as the input feedback can “equalize”
In Parts I and II of this article negative input volt- amplitude rises. this gain, reducing distor-
[1], [2], we explored the concepts of ages. The function tion across the input range.
signal, noise, and distortion in elec- saturates to 0.5 V on the negative Let us now explore how differ-
tronic circuits. We noted that ampli- and −0.65 V on the positive side, ential circuits and feedback reduce
fying an input signal using transistor creating even-order harmonics. As nonlinearity and distortion.
circuits introduces unwanted noise,
caused by the random movement of υout (V)
VDD = 1.2 V
electrons at room temperature, as 1
well as distortion resulting from the
0.5
circuit’s nonlinear behavior. Distor- RD = 2 kΩ
tion, which can be measured by the
ratio of harmonic power to the input VDS + υout υ in (V)
tone power, is a strong function of –0.5
the input amplitude and increases M1
υin –1
as the input amplitude rises. –0.6 –0.4 –0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
Consider a single-ended common- VGS (c)
source voltage amplifier, shown in dυout/dυ in (V/V)
Figure 1(a) and represented in a sim- (a) 0
υ in (V)
plified block diagram in Figure 1(b). –2
The input–output relationship of –4
this amplifier is described by –6
υ in f(·) υout = f(υ in)
–8
v out = f (v in) (1) –0.6 –0.4 –0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
(b) (d)
where f is a nonlinear function as
depicted in Figure 1(c). This func- FIGURE 1: (a) A single-ended common-source (CS) amplifier, (b) a block diagram capturing
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2024.3500272 the function of a CS amplifier, (c) the voltage transfer curve of the CS amplifier, and (d) the
Date of current version: 22 January 2025 small-signal voltage gain of the CS amplifier as a function of its input amplitude.

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Using Differential Circuits these assumptions, the common output. We make the following
As discussed in Part II [2] of this source node of M 1 and M 1 is at vir- key observations:
article, any nonlinear function can tual ground (for small-signal inputs), ■ The input tone, not shown in

be represented by its Taylor series: allowing us to model each half circuit this figure, has a total power
as a single-ended common-source of 10 # log 10 (0.1 2 /2) = - 23 dB
y = f (x) = a 0 + a 2 x + a 2 x 2 + f(2) amplifier. The simulated, large-sig- relative to a sinusoid with a peak
nal, input–output characteristic of amplitude of 2 V (corresponding
Here, x and y represent v in and v out, this differential amplifier, shown in to 0 dB). The output tone at the
respectively, and a 0, a 1, a 2, f are Figure 2(c), confirms its odd same frequency has a
the Taylor coefficients. symmetry. Reversing the power of −8.6 dB in a
Now imagine two identical ampli- differential input voltage Overall, THD single-ended amplifier
fiers, each with the same nonlinear reverses the polarity of decreases and −8.9 dB in a differ-
function f ( $ ), where we apply v in /2 the differential output significantly ential amplifier, repre-
from 13.2% in
to one and - v in /2 to the other, as voltage while preserving senting gains of 14.4 dB
the single-ended
shown in Figure 2(a). Denoting their its magnitude. Further- and 14.1 dB over the in-
circuit to 5.3% in
outputs as y 1 and y 2, we have: more, the small-signal the differential put tone, respectively.
gain of the amplifier, as circuit. This corresponds to a
y 1 = f (x/2) = a 0 + a 1 x/2 + a 2 x 2 /4 + f shown in Figure 2(d), voltage gain of approxi-
exhibits even symme- mately 5.25 V/V for the sin-
y 2 = f (- x/2) = a 0 - a 1 x/2 + a 2 x 2 /4 + f try, in contrast with the asymmetry gle-ended amplifier and 5.1 V/V
in Figure 1(d). Finally, the absence for the differential amplifier.
By forming a differential output, of the second-order term x 2 in (3) ■ The single-ended signal (the PSD
y = y 1 - y 2, we get: is expected to significantly improve in black in Figure 3) exhibits dis-
the total harmonic distortion (THD), tortion terms at all integer mul-
y = a 1 x + a 3 x 3 + f(3) as this term is typically the largest tiples of the input frequency,
contributor to distortion power. whereas the differential signal
Interestingly, this differential out- To see the improvement in THD, (the PSD in red in Figure 3) only
put is an odd function of x, contain- we plot in Figure 3 the simulated includes odd harmonics.
ing no dc component or even-order power spectral density (PSD) of ■ The differential signal has no dc

terms. Figure 2(b) shows a circuit the differential output in response component or second harmonic.
realization of this setup, assuming to a 200-mVpp sinusoidal input at ■ The thermal noise level, ob-

matched components (i.e., M 1 and 100 MHz, and compare it against the served as −93 dB/noise band-
M 2 are matched, and R 1 = R 1). Under simulated PSD of the single-ended width (NBW) in the single-ended

υout (V) 0 −8.6 dB

υ in + υout − υ in 1 –20 −28.2 dB THD = 13.2%
PSD (dB/NBW)

f 2 f − 2 –40
NBW = 3.125 MHz

υ in υ 0.5 –60
f(·) f(·) − in
2 2 –80
υ in υ –100
υout =f − f − in υ in (V)
2 2 –0.5 –120
(a) 0 −8.9 dB
THD = 5.3%
–1 –20
PSD (dB/NBW)

VDD = 1.2 V −34.5 dB NBW = 3.125 MHz

–0.6 –0.4 –0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 –40
−57.1 dB
(c) –60
RD = 2 kΩ RD = 2 k Ω –80
+ υout − dυout/dυ in (V/V) –100
0
υ in υ –120
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
M1 M2 − in –2 υ in (V)
2 2 Freq. (GHz)
–4
IB = 0.5 mA –6 FIGURE 3: Power spectral density (PSD) in
–8 decibels per noise bandwidth (NBW) (where
–0.6 –0.4 –0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 NBW = 3.125 MHz) for the outputs of the
(b) (d) single-ended common-source amplifier
(black) and the differential amplifier (red).
FIGURE 2: (a) A block diagram showing how a nonlinear function with an odd symmetry The dashed orange line represents the PSD
can be produced using two identical nonlinear functions f(·), (b) a transistor-level realization level of thermal noise. The input signal is a
of the block diagram in (a), (c) the voltage transfer characteristics demonstrating an odd 200-mV peak-to-peak sinusoid at 100 MHz,
symmetry, and (d) the small-signal voltage gain demonstrating an even symmetry of the applied as single-ended in one case and
differential amplifier of (b). differential in the other.

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 signal, increases to −90 dB/NBW range applied to the nonlinear The relationship between these
in the differential circuit, indi- amplifier, effectively reducing the gains is given by
cating a doubling of the thermal observed nonlinearity.
noise power. This is expected To illustrate this, consider the Af = A 
1 + bA
simply because the differential cir- open-loop amplifier shown in Fig-
cuit doubles the number of noise- ure 4(a) with its input– output where b is the feedback factor. When
producing components. characteristic depicted in red in Fig- bA & 1, we observe that A f . 1/b,
■ Overall, THD decreases significant- ure 4(c). When we place this ampli- which remains nearly constant and,
ly from 13.2% in the single-ended fier in a feedback loop, forming a by definition, is more linear. This
circuit to 5.3% in the differential closed-loop amplifier as shown in effect is shown in Figure 4(d): While
circuit. Figure 4(b), the input– A varies from 5 to 60 (a factor of 12),
Before concluding this output relationship A f only varies from 5 to 15 (a fac-
By using
s e c t ion , we n ote t h at feedback, we can changes, as indicated tor of 3), demonstrating how feed-
while the differential cir- limit the input by the green curve in back equalizes the small-signal gain
cuits create symmetry range applied Figure 4(c). The green across the input voltage range.
and reduce part of the to the nonlinear curve displays signifi- Next, we apply feedback to the
distortion, one source amplifier, cantly less nonlinearity differential circuit in Figure 2(b)
of distortion remains: effectively because the closed-loop by introducing a source-degener-
the variation in small- reducing the config uration reduces ation resistance R S that connects
signal gain with input observed the range of signal levels the source nodes of M 1 and M 2, as
amplitude, as high- nonlinearity. applied to the amplifier, shown in Figure 5(a). We increase R S
lighted in Figure 2(d). thereby keeping it within from 0 X (no feedback) to 1.5 kX
In the next section, we will explore a more linear region of its charac- (maximum feedback), in increments
how feedback can reduce this source teristic curve. For instance, a 40-mV of 300 X. Figure 5(b) shows that
of distortion. input to the closed-loop amplifier increasing R S reduces the output
results in only a 10-mV input to the voltage amplitude, as expected, since
Using Feedback open-loop amplifier, thus using a a higher R S value increases b, and
Recall that in nonlinear amplifiers, smaller, more linear portion of the therefore decreases A f . Figure 5(c)
the small-signal voltage gain var- amplifier’s range. and (d) show the input–output char-
ies with the input voltage level, Let A and A f represent the small- acteristic and small-signal gain of
contributing to distortion. By using signal gains of the open-loop and the feedback amplifier, respectively,
feedback, we can limit the input closed-loop amplifiers, respectively. with R S as a parameter. These plots
confirm that as R S increases, non-
linearity is reduced, and the small-
signal gain becomes more uniform,
υout (V) resulting in lower THD.
1
Figure 6 compares the PSD of the
υ in f (·) υout 0.5 differential signal without feedback
(in red) and with feedback (in blue,
A = dυout/dυ in
–0.5 corresponding to R S = 1.5 kX). The
(a) feedback effectively eliminates all
–1
–60 –40 –20 0 20 40 60 harmonic components, reducing the
(c) THD from 5.3% to just 0.2%. How-
dυout/dυ in (V/V) ever, this improvement comes at the
80 cost of reduced gain. The main tone
υ in + f (·) υout
− 60 A in blue has a power of −19.4 dB, com-
40 pared to −8.9 dB in red, indicating a
Af
β 20 10.5 dB decrease in gain (equivalent
0 to a reduction in voltage gain by a
A factor of 3.35).
Af = –60 –40 –20 0 20 40 60
1 + βA Before we conclude, we would
υ in (mV)
like to highlight two important con-
(b) (d)
siderations related to distortion:
1) The term distortion is sometimes
FIGURE 4: (a) Block diagram of a nonlinear amplifier, (b) block diagram of a nonlinear
amplifier in a feedback system, (c) the input–output characteristic of the open-loop amplifier broadly used to describe any
(in red) and the closed-loop amplifier (in green), (d) the small-signal gain of the open-loop “alteration” of a desired signal.
amplifier (in red) and the closed-loop amplifier (in green). For example, when a rectangular

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 0 −8.9 dB
υout (V) THD = 5.3%
VDD = 1.2 V –20

PSD (dB/NBW)
−34.5 dB NBW = 3.125 MHz
1 –40
−57.1 dB
RD = 2 kΩ RD = 2 k Ω –60
+ υout −
0.5 –80
–100
υ in υ
M1 M2 − in RS = 1.5 kΩ –120
2 2 0
–0.5 −19.4 dB THD = 0.2%
–20

PSD (dB/NBW)
RS RS = 0 NBW = 3.125 MHz
IB IB –1 –40
= 250 µA = 250 µA –0.6 –0.4 –0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 –60
–80
(a) (c) –100
–120
0.6 dυout/dυ in (V/V) 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
0.4 υout Freq. (GHz)
0
0.2 υ in –2 –1.53 FIGURE 6: PSD in decibels per NBW
–1.79
(V) 0 –4 –2.16 (where NBW = 3.125 MHz) for the outputs
–2.73
–0.2 –6 –3.71 of the differential amplifier without
–0.4 –5.76
–8 feedback (RS = 0 Ω) shown in red and with
–0.6 –0.6 –0.4 –0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 feedback (RS = 1.5 kΩ) shown in blue. The
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
υ in (mV) dashed orange line represents the PSD
Time (ns)
level of thermal noise. In both cases, the
(b) (d)
input signal is a 200-mV peak-to-peak
differential sinusoid at 100 MHz.
FIGURE 5: (a) A differential amplifier with degeneration resistance RS, (b) the time domain
input and output waveforms, (c) the voltage transfer characteristics of the differential
amplifier for RS values ranging from 0 to 1.5 kΩ in increments of 300 Ω, and (d) the small- ended amplifiers and demonstrated
signal gains corresponding to the same range of RS values. how differential circuits and feed-
back can significantly reduce dis-
tortion. While differential circuits
pulse is transmitted along a wire, density at each frequency. In eliminate even-order harmonics,
it typically arrives at the receiv- contrast, noise is spread across feedback equalizes gain across
er with reduced amplitude and the frequency spectrum, with a varying input amplitudes, both con-
increased duration. While this finite power spectral density at tributing to a substantial reduction
received signal is indeed an al- any given frequency. Attempting in THD. Differential circuits and
tered version of the transmitted to display both distortion and feedback intuitively reduce distor-
pulse, the alteration is often due noise on the same graph creates tion by targeting the root causes of
to the distributed RC character- a challenge, as it requires repre- even-order harmonics and gain vari-
istic of the wire, which behaves senting finite and infinite values ation, resulting in a cleaner, more
as a linear circuit. A wire may on the same vertical axis. How- linear output.
attenuate an input tone and in- ever, by defining an NBW of, say,
troduce phase delay, but it does a few megahertz (we used NBW = Acknowledgment
not generate harmonics. In this 3.125 MHz in this article), one I thank my former Ph.D. student,
article, however, we use “distor- can display both noise power Dr. Jhoan Salinas, for his assistance
tion” specifically to refer to non- and distortion power within this with preparing simulation results
linear distortion, the type caused bandwidth. This approach scales for this article.
by nonlinearity, which generates the noise PSD by the NBW, while
harmonics and cannot be cor- the distortion power remains at References
[1] A. Sheikholeslami, “Noise and distor-
rected through linear operations. discrete frequencies. tion, Part I [Circuit Intuitions],” IEEE
2) There is a fundamental differ- In summary, we explored the Solid State Circuits Mag., vol. 16, no. 3,
pp. 15–26, Summer 2024, doi: 10.1109/
ence between distortion and impacts of noise and distortion in MSSC.2024.3419508.
noise. Distortion appears as electronic amplifiers and reviewed [2] A. Sheikholeslami, “Noise and distortion,
Part II [Circuit Intuitions],” IEEE Solid State
discrete tones with fixed power two powerful techniques for reduc- Circuits Mag., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 8–11, Fall
at specific frequencies, result- ing distortion. We examined the 2024, doi: 10.1109/MSSC.2024.3473730.
ing in an infinite power spectral nonlinear characteristics of single- 

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