Continuous-Time Common-Mode Feedback Circuit

for Applications with Large Output Swing and High

Output Impedance
Weixun Yan and Horst Zimmermann
Institute of Electrical Measurements and Circuit Design
Vienna University of Technology
Gusshausstrasse 25/E354, 1040 Vienna, Austria
Email: yweixun @ emst.tuwien.ac.at, horst.zimmermann @ ieee.org

Abstract- Motivated by the fact that no existing common- P f DM5

mode feedback block (CMFB) can work for the systems char- M6 M4
acterized with both high output impedance and large output Vref
swing, a new CMFB topology is introduced in this paper
to accomplish this task. Various types of CMFB are studied, Vo Mll M3_ ; M4 M
V Vout+; Vout-
M1L
Vref
M2 M3 Ko
analyzed and simulated. Compared with other CMFBs, the Vcm
proposed CMFB obtains the widest linear input range, smallest Vcm
output common-mode level error, largest (full) output swing and M7 M8 M5 M6
has no interference to the system output impedance. All these M9
properties entitle the presented CMFB circuit to suit all types V V
of fully differential systems, especially for systems which require (a) (b)
both high output impedance and large signal output swing.
VDD
VoW+ PAf M3
I. INTRODUCTION
Ri C

Fully differential systems are becoming highly mandatory M2'

in contemporary integrated circuits design for the sake of good R2 C2 Vcm
power supply rejection and immunity against substrate noise ,out M4 M5
especially in mixed-signal system-on-chip (SoC), as well as Vout
the reduction of the even order harmonic distortion. Common- vss
mode feedback block (CMFB) is a fundamental circuitry for (c)
a fully differential system, because it provides a sufficient
common-modefloopngain
*t maintain arstea D operti
common e lp Fig. 1. Different types of CMFB based on differential-difference amplifier
g(DDA): (a) symmetrical DDA, (b) asymmetrical DDA, and (c) balanced
point for the fully differential system and desensitize the resistor/capacitor DDA.
system to mismatch, power supply variation and fabrication
tolerances. Without CMFB, the transistors in the system may
easily drift away from saturation region due to mismatch
and other process tolerances and cause a system malfunction,
especially in low supply voltage applications where the voltage Currently, CMFB are generally realized by either circuits
headroom to keep transistors in saturation region is very small. based on differential-difference amplifier (DDA) [4]-[7] or
On the other hand, in deep-submicron and nanometer switched-capacitor structures [8]. For continuous-time sys-
CMOS technologies which are mainly used for low-voltage tems, CMFB using a switched-capacitor circuit is not prefer-
applications, large signal swing and high impedance are often able, since it needs an additional clock signal and induces
desired for a system output. Large or even full output swing charge injection as well as clock feedthrough. Thus, DDA
(rail-to-rail) is important for the enhancement of dynamic based CMFBs are the first choice for continuous-time systems.
range and signal-to-noise ratio under low supply voltage, while DDAs can be categorized into three genres: symmetri-
high output impedance is necessary for applications such as cal DDA [4,5], asymmetrical DDA [6] and balanced resis-
current-mode circuits [1,2] or some high-gain amplifiers [3]. tor/capacitor DDA [7], see Fig. 1. V0ut+ and V0ut- are the
Unfortunately, no existing CMFB can operate at a system differential outputs of the system regulated by the CMFB. Vref
output which has both high impedance and large signal swing. is the reference voltage for the CMFB. Vcm is the control
In this paper, a novel CMFB is designed to fulfill this task. signal fed back to the differential system. Pref is the bias
978-1 -4244-2277-7/08/$25.00 ©D2008 IEEE
voltage for the current sources. - re
VDD
CMFB based on symmetrical and asymmetrical DDA can 4 Pe Mu
work for outputs with high impedance, but both types of ML M2
CMFB need a correct input DC operating point to create the M7
common-mode feedback loop, which means all the transistors VOut+ Vref
of the CMFB should be kept in saturation region. This feature © M9 M1o.
determines the voltage range which can be regulated by the Vout- Vc
CMFB, and further limits the system output swing. Once the M8
system produces a large output signal, then the transistors will
be in linear region or even switched off and the feedback M3
M5 M6M1
2 M 13

loop is broken. When the system has a fully differential VSS

output (VDD-Vout+=Vout--VSS), the system output swing common-mode level tracing
regulated by the symmetrical or asymmetrical DDA based
CMFB, is estimated as follows. Denote the threshold voltage Fig. 2. The proposed CMFB
and drain-source saturation voltage of the transistors as Vt and
VDsat and assume every transistor has the same Vt and VDSat,
for symmetrical DDA based CMFB in Fig. l(a), Vout+ and III. PROPOSED TOPOLOGY
Vout- are limited in such a range to constitute the common-
mode feedback loop:
To enable the operation of the CMFB at a system output
VSS + Vmin < VOUt, VOUt- < VDD -Vmin (1) with both large swing and high impedance, a new CMFB
where Vmin=min (Vt+VDsat, Vref-VDsat-VSS). The upper structure is proposed in this paper, as depicted in Fig. 2.
boundary is to ensure that M1 and M5 (or M2 and M6) are Vout+ and Vout- are the differential outputs of the system.
in saturation region, and the lower boundary is to guarantee Vref is the reference voltage for the CMFB. Vcm is the
that M3 (or M4) is not switched off. control signal fed back to the system. Pref is the bias voltage
Similarly, for asymmetrical DDA based CMFB in Fig. 1(b) for the current sources. The resistor/capacitor network in the
DDA is replaced byy a transistor
Vout+ and Vout0 are limited in such a range to construct the balanced resistor/capacitor
p Mp
common-mode
feedback loop: ~network consisting of M1-M6, so that the output common-
mode level can be sensed without changing the impedance at
VSS + Vmax < Vout+, Vout- < VDD - Vmax (2) the system output Vout+ and Vout. The signal path from
Vout+ and Vout- to node C is built exclusively by source-
where Vmax=max (Vt+VDsat, Vref-VDsat-VSS). The upper follower stages, so the voltage at node C is a monotonically
boundary is to make sure that M1 (or M2) and M4 are in increasing function of the output common-mode level. Thus,
saturation region, and the lower boundary is to guarantee that the change tendency of the output common-mode level is
M3 is not turned off. traced at node C. Also, since M1-M6 are complementary types
From (1) and (2), it can be seen that the CMFB based on of transistors, the output common-mode level is guaranteed to
symmetrical DDA can regulate larger system output swing be detected in full-swing range without pulling any transistors
than CMFB based on symmetrical DDA. This is because the of M9-M13 away from the saturation region. Therefore the
CMFB based on symmetrical DDA contains two differential operating voltage region of the proposed CMFB even becomes
pairs M1-M3 and M2-M4 (see in Fig. 1(a)), it is sufficient to from less than Vss to higher than VDD. Besides, since A, B
establish the common-mode feedback loop, even if only one and C are all low impedance nodes, the proposed CMFB will
of the pairs is operating. However, (1) and (2) also imply that not launch additional stability problems.
CMFBs based on symmetrical and asymmetrical DDA are not
suitable for systems with large output signal swing.
In contrast, balanced resistor/capacitor DDA can operate VDD
with large output swing. However, it has a resistor/capacitor
network connected to the system output, so the resistors RI vig M1 M2
and R2 should be very large to guarantee the gain of the
system is not deteriorated. Contradictorily, large resistors at Vout Vcm
Vout+
the output nodes engender huge noise and cause stability (from CMFB)
problems due to the parasitic effects, gate leakage of tran- -M3v
sistor Ml in Fig. 1(c) (for nanoscale circuits) or the outputi
impedance change, especially in deep-submicron technologies. IS
As a result, CMFB based on balanced resistor/capacitor DDA
is not appropriate for high output impedance systems, or other eFig.3.Th fllydfeetacapiirtployueeoealaeteCF
systems where the output impedance is sensitive or critical,. efrmne
 ------ with symmetrical DDA based CMFB
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION -.-.-.- with asymmetrical DDA based CMFB
To verify that the proposed CMFB can properly work with with the proposed CMFB
systems with both large-swing output and high-impedance
output, the fully differential amplifier topology developed in
[4] (see Fig. 3) is chosen to evaluate the CMFB performance, >

because its output necessitates both high impedance and large 00m
swing operation. This amplifier can be used as a class-A rail- > X
to-rail output stage for amplifiers or current-mode circuits. To - loom
-

catch up with the popular CMOS technologies and low-voltage 0

>
applications in the current industry, the amplifier is designed -300m
in 0.12,tm CMOS technology with 1V dual-mode supply.
To further emphasize the innovation of the proposed cir- -500m
300m
cuit, the amplifier linear input range as well as the output
swing sustained by all types of CMFBs which can work
for high impedance system output are compared, including 200m --
the symmetrical DDA CMFB in Fig. l(a), the asymmetrical -- l
DDA CMFB in Fig. 1(b) and the proposed CMFB. For a fair '- loom
comparison, the quantity of bias current and the dimensions
of corresponding transistors in different DDAs are set to be >
identical. The symmetrical DDA CMFB in [4] is not selected 0.00 ---

for comparison, because the DC operating range as well as

the detectable amplifier output swing of the CMFB in [4] -lm
50
will definitely be smaller than those of the CMFB in [5], -1.0 --50 001(.0
m50
owing to the fact that it has one more cascode stage than
the symmetrical DDA CMFB in [5]. Fig. 5. Output signal and common-mode error versus differential-mode input
Some notations for the simulation are stated here: Vocm is voltage in open-loop configuration.
the output common-mode voltage, which is (V0,t++V0t_)I2.
The output common-mode error voltage Voerr is the differ-
ence between Vocm and the targeted output common-mode
general case). In this test, the differential-mode input voltage
level, which is supposed to be at the middle of the supply
rail ((VDD+VSS)/2). Ui in Fig. 4 and Fig. 7 is the block
Vidm is equal to Vi-Vin.
composed by by the amplifier in Fig. 3 together with CMFB. In Fig. 5, the output voltages and Voerr in the open-loop
Almposo, the
dfnin ffulsing. rto-,raitp
or shoul configuration are plotted against the Vidm. As can be seen,
proposed CMFB not only creates a large linear input range
the ppyg
be remarked. As conmonly admitted, be a full-swing
remarked. or rail- g
to-rail output signal does not include two saturation voltage Ascmolamte,from -150mV to 150mV, but also makes the amplifier achieve
full output signal swing inside the linear input range. In
ranges near each power supply rail [9]. comparison, the asymmetrical and symmetrical DDA CMFB
A. Differential-mode input test have a slim linear input range between +25mV and +50mV.
The output behavior corresponding to differential-mode Both of them can help the amplifier to get only about half-
input is a crucial characteristic for the CMFB, which should swing output in the linear input range.
be observed in both open-loop and closed-loop configurations. The closed-loop output characteristics of differential-mode
The test circuitries are depicted in Fig. 4. Resistors R1-R4 input is shown in Fig. 6. The amplifier controlled by the
have the same value and should not be too small so as not to proposed CMFB possesses a linear input range over the entire
load the amplifier with noticeable gain degradation (> lkQ for differential-mode input range, and full output swing is also
accomplished in the linear input range. On the contrary, with
the asymmetrical and symmetrical DDA CMFB, the amplifier
cannot work for large input signals and can attain no more than
Rl 6OmV and 200mV output swing inside the linear input range,
Vin+ + Vout- Vin+ + = Vout- respectively. With respect to the whole differential-mode input
Vin- - + out+ Vin-A - I+_ Vout+ range, the linear input ranges supported by asymmetrical and
/ R2R_
_ -- symmetrical DDA CMFB are only 7.5% and 20% of the
R4 differential-mode input range.
(a) (b) It is worth mentioning that the same symmetrical DDA
CMFB realized in a 2,um CMOS technology and 5V supply
Fig. 4. Differential-mode input test circuitries in (a) open-loop configuration votg als reut na2%lna iptrne(Vlna
and (b) closed-loop configuration.
input range compared with +5V differential-mode input range)
 ------ with symmetrical DDA based CMFB ------ with symmetrical DDA based CMFB
--- - with asymmetrical DDA based CMFB ----- with asymmetrical DDA based CMFB
500m with the proposed CMFB 500m with the proposed CMFB

300m " '=300m

learn > >

learn _-_-.
...........................

-learn--
loo
o 0

-3E00m -3100m
-300m / 300m .s
-l00mearn -... 2... e;e.-500m. . -
Do :a=
-500m -5~~~~~~~~~~~~00m
300m 30

-l.a 200m _._._._._a.Vicrn_(

a) .0"0 , ,' ° 00

0.00 _ ~~~~~~~~~~~-2100mX
10-loom ........-!500m -250m 0.00 250m 500m
Vidrn (V)

Fig. 6. Output signal and common-mode error versus differential-mode input Fig. 8. Output signal and common mode error versus common-mode input
voltage in closed-loop configuration. voltage in closed-loop configuration

will be working properly in the range of:

in this test configuration [5], which validates that the simula-
tion results in this paper are reliable, even with the change of Vss + 2VDsat < Vicm < VDD - VDsat (3)
technology and supply voltage. Moreover, it should be noticed that for common-mode input
in open-loop configuration as in Fig. 7(a), Vo0t+ and Vo0t-
B. Common-mode input test will be identical and no differential output will be generated.
The dependence of the output behavior on the common- Hence, the amplifier will always behave the same, no matter
mode input is also of vital importance. However, an intrinsic which CMFB is applied. Consequently, this test is actually
issue for the common-mode input test should be pointed out useless to observe the output swing and stress the advantage of
here. Due to the amplifier structure in Fig. 3, DDA based the proposed CMFB. Still, the CMFB can stabilize the output
CMFBs will not be very effective when the common-mode common-mode level and keep a low common-mode gain in
input voltage Vicm is close to each supply rail. The reason the range given by (3).
is because the voltage range which the feedback regulating According to the above discussion, the common-mode input
signal Vcm can achieve is constrained from VSS+VDsat to test is only executed in closed-loop configuration as exhibited
VDD-2VDsat (see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2), the CMFBs can not in Fig. 7 (b). In this test, Vicm is equivalent to Vin+. The
generate a corresponding regulating signal when Vicm is also output voltages and Voerr are inspected against the common-
near the two power supplies. Assume the PMOS and NMOS mode input voltage Vicm, as illustrated in Fig. 8. Again,
transistors in Fig. 3 are symmetrical, the DDA based CMFBs the amplifier obtains the widest linear input range with the
regulation of the proposed CMFB, which stretches to the
complete common-mode input range. Full swing output signal
is reached in the linear input range only with the proposed
Vn+ + - Vout--=.
Vin+ + - Vout- CMFB. The amplifier a cquires much smaller output swings
- + Vout+c --+ Vot inside the linear input ranges with the other two CMFBs,
L | ~~~~which is less than +200mV for symmetrical DDA CMFB and
(a) (b) +2OmV for the asymmetrical DDA CMFB. The ratio between
the linear input range and the entire common-mode input range
Fig. 7. Common-mode input test circuitries in (a) open-loop configuration is onl abu 0 sn ymtia MBad5
D
and (b) closed-loop configuration. uigaymtia D MB
 V. CONCLUSION RoC via FFG for partial financial support.
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i Cmpor arnovel continuous-
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