SEMINAR

ON
CURRENT DIFFERENCING TRANSCONDUCTANCE
AMPLIFIER (CDTA) AND ITS APPLICATIONS

UNDER THE GUIDENCE OF

DR. SUBODH WAIRYA
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
IET LUCKNOW

BY
AVINASH SINGH
ROLL NO. 1305267006
M-TECH MICROELECTRONICS

OUTLINE

Operational transconductance amplifier (OTA)

CMOS implementation of OTA
Current conveyor
First generation current conveyor (CCI)
Second generation current conveyor (CCII)
Impedance level of CCII
Applications of current conveyors
Current differenting transconductance amplifier (CDTA)
Block diagram of CDTA
Equivalent circuit of CDTA
Implementation of CDTA using OTA and current conveyor
Matrix representation for CDTA elements
Applications of CDTA
Conclusion
References

Operational transconductance amplifier (OTA)

Commercially available in 1969 by RCA
Voltage-controlled current source, with infinite input and output impedances and
frequency independent transconductance
OTA has two attractive features:
1) changing the external dc bias current or voltage can control its
transconductance, and
2) It can work at high frequencies.
The term operational" comes from the fact that it takes the difference of two
voltages as the input for the current conversion.
The ideal OTA is a differential-input voltage-controlled current source (DVCCS)
Its operation is defined by

Operational transconductance amplifier (OTA)

Block diagram of OTA

Equivalence circuit of OTA

CMOS implementation of OTA

Current conveyor

Published by Sedra in 1968

Three terminal device
Open-loop current-mode amplifier with low and fixed current gain
The gain is set by transistor aspects or by controlling the impedance levels at
the output or input
Capable to convey current between two terminals (X and Z) with very
different impedance levels
Some advantages compared to op-amp
Can provide a higher voltage gain over a larger signal bandwidth than
corresponding op-amp
Better CMRR in instrumentation amplifiers

First generation current conveyor (CCI)

potential will appear on the input terminal X

An input current I being forced into terminal X will result an equal amount of
current flowing into terminal Y
The current I will be conveyed to output terminal Z such that terminal Z has the
characteristics of a current source, of value I, with high output impedance
Potential of X being set by that of Y, is independent of the current being forced into
port X
Current through port Y being fixed by X is independent of the voltage applied to Y

First generation current conveyor (CCI)

Matrix representation of first generation current conveyor component

Second generation current conveyor CCII

Published by Sedra in 1970

If a voltage is applied to terminal Y, an equal potential will appear on the input
terminal X
The current in node Y=0
The current I will be conveyed to output terminal Z such that terminal Z has the
characteristics of a current source, of value I, with high output impedance
Potential of X being set by that of Y, is independent of the current being forced into
port X
Terminal Y exhibits an infinite input impedance

Second generation current conveyor CCII

Matrix representation
CCII- may be viewed as
an ideal MOS transistor
Y=gate, X=source,
Z=drain

impedance level of CCII

CCII Port

Impedance Level

X
Y

Low (ideally zero)

High (ideally infinite)

High (ideally infinite)

This current conveyor differs from the first generation current conveyor
in a sense that the port Y is a high impedance port i.e. there is no current
flowing into port Y
The port Y of the second generation current conveyor is used as a volta
-ge input and port Z is used as a current output port

Application of current conveyor

Current differenting transconductance amplifier

(CDTA)
Has a pair of low-impedance current inputs p and n, and an auxiliary terminal z,
whose outgoing current is the difference of input currents
Output terminal currents are equal in magnitude, but flow in opposite directions,
and the product of transconductance gm and the voltage at the z terminal gives their
magnitudes.
This active element can be characterized with the following equations:

Vp=Vn=0,
Ix+=gmVz,

Iz=Ip-In
Ix-=-gmVz

Where Vz = Iz.Zz and Zz is the external impedance connected to Z terminal of the

CDTA
CDTA can be thought as a combination of a current differencing unit followed by a
dual-output operational transconductance amplifier, DO-OTA
CDTA applications do not require the use of external resistors, which are substituted
by internal transconductors

Block diagram of cdta and its equivalent circuit

CDTA using OTA and current conveyor

Matrix representation of cdta component

Vp=Vn=0,
Ix+=gmVz,

Iz=Ip-In
Ix-=-gmVz

APPLICATIONS OF CDTA
Integrator using CDTA
The operation of integration can be achieved very conveniently using the CDTA as
shown in Fig.

Ki
=

APPLICATIONS OF CDTA
Current Summation using CDTA

We let z node outlet open, thus

Iz =Ip-In,
Ip=In,
Iin=Ix+IT
Ix=Iin-IT

Iz=0
In=Ix+IT

APPLICATIONS OF CDTA
Current-mode Second-order Universal Filter

CDTA
1

x
CDTA
2

n
z

x
x

APPLICATIONS OF CDTA
a) If I2 = I3 = 0 and I1 = Iin, the LP response can be realized.
b) If I1 = I3 = 0 and I2 = Iin, the BP response can be realized.
c) If -I1 = -I2 = I3 = Iin, the HP response can be realized.
d) If I1 = 0 and -I2 = I3 = Iin, the BS response can be realized.
e) If I1 = 0, I2 = -2Iin and I3 = Iin, the AP response can be realized.
The o and Q of this filter are shown as follows:

APPLICATIONS OF CDTA
Current-mode four-phase quadrature oscillator

Employs only three CDTAs and two grounded capacitors

The use of grounded capacitors is helpful for easing the elimination of various
parasitic capacitance effects.

Conclusion AND FUTURE WORK

Main advantage of CDTA is useful in application where extra low supply
voltage is required
Bulk-driven technique is most convenient for CDTA application
CDTA has most important features like
Low power
Low voltage
Uses mostly active components so efficiency is high
Can be used in communication system to achieve high gain and bandwidth
CDTA quadrature phase oscillator may be used for waveform generation in
the field of sinusoidal oscillation.

references
[1]

Sedra A., Smith K., A second-generation current-conveyor and its applications", IEEE Trans., vol. CT-17, pp 132-134, 1970.

[2]

Sedra A. S., Roberts G. W., Gohh F., The current conveyor: history, progress and new results", IEE Proc. Of ISCAS1990, Vol. 137, pp 78-87

[3]

B. J. Blalock and P. E. Allen, A One-Volt, 120-W, 1-MHz OTA for Standard CMOS Technology, In Proceedings IEEE International
Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), pages 305 307, May 1996.

[4]

S.Rabbi and B.A. Wooley A 1.8V Digital-Audio Sigma-Delta Modulator in 0.8m CMOS,IEEE Journal of solid-State circuits. pp. 783-795 Vol.32,1997

[5]

Fabian Khateb, Dalibor Biolek, Bulk-Driven Current Differencing Transconductance Amplifier Circuit Syst. Signal Process (2011) 30: 1071-1089.

[6]

D. Biolek, CDTAbuilding block for current-mode analog signal processing, in Proc. ECCTD03, Krakow, Poland (2003), pp. 397400

[7]

D. Biolek, R. Senani, V. Biolkova, Z. Kolka, Active elements for analog signal processing: classification, review, and new proposals. Radio
engineering 17, 1532 (2008)

[8]

D. Biolek, E. Hancioglu, A.. Keskin, High-performance current differencing transconductance amplifier and its application in precision current-mode
rectification. AE, Int. J. Electron. Commun. 62(2), 9296 (2008)

THANKING
YOU !!