PRESENTATION

ON

DESIGN OF SUPER SOURCE FOLLOWER

CONTENTS Introduction 2. Conventional Voltage Follower 3. Flipped Voltage Follower 4. Super Source Follower 5.Quasi Floating Gate Structure 6.Class AB Super Source Follower 7. Simulation Results 8.Conclusion
1.

1. INTRODUCTION
Power

consumption in digital blocks is highly dependent on the supply voltage (P VDD2). This forces to decrease the supply voltage in mixed-signals ASICs.
Downscaling

of technology forces VDD to decrease but VT does not scale down in the same way. This limits the output voltage swing.
New

design techniques and new circuit structures are required for low voltage, low power design .

1.

continued.

Parameters to be considered-

2.

CONVENTIONAL VOLTAGE FOLLOWER

Current through transistor M1 depends on output current. Therefore, VGS of M1 is signal dependent and the produced output is distorted.

Output resistance , gm is not very high. Rout is not very low. Not effective in driving low resistive loads.

2.

continued..
HOW TO REDUCE THE OUTPUT RESISTANCE-

Increase the bias current or W/L ratio to increase gm . This increase area and power dissipation .
Introduce shunt negative feedback in a loop

3. FLIPPED VOLTAGE FOLLOWER

Current in transistor M1 now is constant, improving linearity.

M2 is arranged in a negative feedback loop, thus reducing output resistance.

Can source large amount of current but its sinking capabilities is very poor because of the biasing current source Input and output voltage ranges are small.

3. continued..
O/p Resistance:

-lower than conventional source follower.

Valid input range :-

decreases with threshold voltage.

Not suitable for deep submicron technologies.

4. SUPER SOURCE FOLLOWER

To overcome the limitation in flipped voltage follower of low input and output voltage swings. Input voltage range is VDDVIB|VDS1sat|VGS2VSS

Trade off is between VDD and maximum output voltage swing.

Output Resistance : lower than conventional source follower.

1.

Continued ..

LIMITATIONS OF CLASS A SSF Limited current driving capability as the maximum load current is limited by the bias current. Because of limited current sourcing capability , slew rate is limited. HOW TO INCREASE THE SLEW RATE Increase the Bias current. It increases the power consumption and supply voltage requirements. Use Class AB version of SSF.

5.QUASI FLOATING GATE STRUCTURE

6.CLASS AB SUPER SOURCE FOLLOWER

DEVELOPMENT

(a)

(b)

(c)

6.

continued.

A floating capacitor Cbat is placed between the gates of M4 and M2, A large-valued resistive device Rlarge between the gate of M4 and the node that sets the dc bias to VB. QFG technique has no impact on static performance. Improves dynamic performance .

7. SIMULATION RESULTS
: Mentor Graphics Simulation Tool. CMOS process 180nm was used for the MOS transistors.
Simulator

Vtn = 0.37 V Vtp = -0.49 V = =

High swing CASCODE VDD = 1.5 V

Current sources were employed

Vss = -1.5 V A resistive load

of 50K and = 50pF (for Slew Rate calculations )was taken in all the simulations so as to obtain a fair comparison between the Source Follower, Flipped Voltage Follower ,Class A and Class AB Super Source Follower.

Linear range : That range of input in which slope of the transfer characteristics (i.e. the incremental gain) is independent of the signal level.
Flipped Voltage Follower Conventional source follower
0.0 v(N_4) v(N_1) 1.5 v(N_2) v(N_3) 1.0 -0. 5

7.1 Comparison of Linear Range

Vout
0.5

vout
-1. 0

Vout (V)

Voltage (V)

0.0

-1. 5

Vin
-0. 5

-2. 0

vin
-1. 0 -2. 5

-1. 5 -1. 5 -1. 0 -0. 5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5

-3. 0 -1. 5 -1. 0 -0. 5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5

Vin (V)

(), Vin (V)

super source follower

2.0 v(N_3) v(N_4) 1.5

Class AB super source follower

v(N_2) v(N_11)

1.5 1.0 1.0

0.5 0.5

0.0

Vout (V)

Vout (V)

-0.5

0.0

Vout
-1.0

-0.5 -1.5

Vin
-2.0 -1.0

-2.5

-3.0 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5

-1.5

-1.5

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

Vin (V) Vin (V)

7.1 Continued ..
S.N o
1. 2. 3. 4.

Follower Configuration

Output Voltage(in Volts)

0.22 0.71 0.81 0.84

Conventional Source Follower Flipped voltage follower Class A Super Source Follower Class AB Super Source Follower

7.1 THD Comparison

Total

Harmonic Distortion : ratio of the sum of powers of all harmonic components (excluding fundamental freq.) to the power of fundamental frequency . Shows distortion produced by the system relative to the fundamental component .
S.No Follower Configuration Harmonic distortion(in %) 14.16 13.71 7.04

1. 2. 3.

Conventional Source Follower Flipped voltage follower Class A Super Source Follower

7.2 Slew Rate Comparison

Slew Rate : Maximum rate of change of output voltage . Cause : Limited current driving capability .
Slew Rate of Source Follower
0.0 v(N_1) v(N_4)

Slew Rate Of Flipped Voltage Follower

1.5 v(N_2)

Vin

Vout

v(N_3)

1.0

-0. 5

Vin

Voltage (V)

-1. 0

Vout

Voltage (V)

0.5

0.0

-1. 5

-0. 5

-2. 0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

-1. 0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Time (us)

Time (us)

Slew Rate Of Super Source Follower

v(N_1) v(N_2) -0. 8 -0. 4

Slew Rate of Class AB SSF

v(N_4) v(N_5)

vout

Vout
-0. 9

-0. 5

-0. 6

-1. 0

-0. 7

Vin

Voltage (V)

Voltage (V)

-0. 8

vin
-0. 9

-1. 1

-1. 0

-1. 2

-1. 1

-1. 3 -1. 2

-1. 3 -1. 4

-1. 4

-1. 5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

-1. 5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Time (us)

Time (us)

7.2 Continued ..
S.N o 1. Follower Configuration Conventional Source Follower Flipped voltage follower Class A Super Source Follower Class AB Super Source Follower SR+ (in V/ SR- (in V/

0.2

-2.5

2.

13.54

-0.23

3.

0.40

-2.43

4.

2.85

-14.6

7.3 Bandwidth Comparison

Bandwidth : Range of frequencies in which output is within 3-dB of the maximum value.
frequency response of source follower
0 vdb(N_4) -15 -1

ac analysis of flipped voltage follower

vdb(N_2)

-20 -2

Voltage Magnitude (dB)

-3

Voltage Magnitude (dB)

-25

-4

-30

-5

-35

-6

-7

-40

-8 -45

-9

-50 -10 1 100k 10G 100m 1 10 100 1k 10k 100k 1M 10M 100M

Frequency (Hz)

Frequency (Hz)

bandwidth of super source follower

vdb(N_1) -8. 5

bandwidth of class AB SSF

0 vdb(N_3)

-9. 0

-9. 5

-5

Voltage Magnitude (dB)

-10. 5

Voltage Magnitude (dB)

-10. 0

-10

-11. 0

-11. 5

-12. 0

-15

-12. 5

-13. 0

-13. 5

-20

-14. 0

-14. 5

100m

10

100

1k

10k

100k

1M

10M

100M

100m

10

100

1k

10k

100k

1M

10M

100M

Frequency (Hz)

Frequency (Hz)

7.3 Continued ..
S.No 1. Follower Configuration Conventional Source Follower Bandwidth(in MHz) 124

2. 3.

Flipped voltage follower

162

Class A Super Source Follower 182

4.

Class AB Super Source Follower

206

7.4 Power dissipation Comparison

Power

dissipation : rate at which energy is dissipated in the circuit. It is of 2 types-Static and Dynamic.
S.No Follower Configuration Power dissipation(

1.
2. 3. 4.

Conventional Source Follower

Flipped voltage follower Class A Super Source Follower Class AB Super Source Follower

43
184 168 168

7.5 Noise Analysis

Noise : random fluctuation in an electrical signal . Mainly thermal noise and flicker noise are present

S.No 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4.

Follower Configuration Conventional Source Follower Conventional Source Follower Flipped voltage follower Flipped voltage follower Class A Super Source Follower Class A Super Source Follower Class AB Super Source Class AB Super Source Follower Follower

Equivalent Input Noise(nV/) 22 22 18 18 15 15 15 15

8. CONCLUSION
Source Follower
traditional voltage buffer. high output resistance. small linear range of operation.

Flipped Voltage Follower

A transistor

is introduced in negative shunt feedback in Source Follower . larger linear range than SF . smaller output impedance than SF . small input and output range .

8. continued..
Class A Super Source Follower
linear range higher than SF and output resistance lower than SF

FVF . and comparable to

FVF. higher input range than FVF . Slew rate limitations .

8. continued..
Class AB Super Source Follower
highest linear range . Lowest output resistance

. Lowest Total Harmonic Distortion . Largest bandwidth . Maximum Slew Rate . Only price paid is increase in Silicon area .

Thank You