Chapter 1 Signals and Amplifiers

Lecture adopted from:

Microelectronic Circuits (Sedra and Smith) Microelectronic Circuit Design (Jaeger and Blalock)

By: August Allo UTSA (2011)

(Slides contain a combination of the text book figures, modified figures and slides, and slides added by August Allo to meet the instructors preference and needs)
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Chapter Goals
Explore the history of electronics. Quantify the impact of integrated circuit technologies. Describe classification of electronic signals. Review circuit notation and theory. Introduce tolerance impacts and analysis. Describe problem solving approach

The Start of the Modern Electronics Era

Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain at Bell Labs - Brattain and Bardeen invented the bipolar transistor in 1947.

The first germanium bipolar transistor. Roughly 50 years later, electronics account for 10% (4 trillion dollars) of the world GDP.
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Evolution of Electronic Devices

Vacuum Tubes

Discrete Transistors

SSI and MSI Integrated Circuits

VLSI Surface-Mount Circuits

Chap 1 - 4

Microelectronics Proliferation
The integrated circuit was invented in 1958. World transistor production has more than doubled every year for the past twenty years. Every year, more transistors are produced than in all previous years combined. Approximately 1018 transistors were produced in a recent year. Roughly 50 transistors for every ant in the world.
*Source: Gordon Moores Plenary address at the 2003 International Solid State Circuits Conference.
Chap 1 - 5

Device Feature Size

Feature size reductions enabled by process innovations. Smaller features lead to more transistors per unit area and therefore higher density.

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Rapid Increase in Density of Microelectronics

Memory chip density versus time.

Microprocessor complexity versus time.

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Signal Types
Analog signals take on continuous values typically current or voltage. Digital signals appear at discrete levels. Usually we use binary signals which utilize only two levels. One level is referred to as logical 1 and logical 0 is assigned to the other level.
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Analog and Digital Signals

Analog signals are continuous in time and voltage or current. (Charge can also be used as a signal conveyor.)

After digitization, the continuous analog signal becomes a set of discrete values, typically separated by fixed time intervals.
Chap 1 - 9

Analog-to-Digital (A/D) Conversion

Analog input voltage vx is converted to the nearest n-bit number. For a three bit converter, 0 to vx input yields a 000 -> 111 digital output. Output is approximation of input due to the limited resolution of the nbit output. Therefore, error is introduced.

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A/D Converter Transfer Characteristic

Chap 1 - 11

Digital-to-Analog (D/A) Conversion

Converts an n-bit digital input into an analog output voltage.

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Notational Conventions

Total signal = DC bias + time varying signal

vC = VDC + vsig iC = I DC + isig

Resistance and conductance - R and G with same subscripts will denote reciprocal quantities. Most convenient form will be used 1 1 within expressions. Gx = and g = Rx r Chap 1 - 13

What are Reasonable Numbers?

If the power suppy is +-10 V, a calculated DC value of 15 V (not within the range of the power supply voltages) is unreasonable. Peak-to-peak ac voltages should be within the power supply voltage range. A calculated component value that is unrealistic should be rechecked. For example, a resistance equal to 0.013 ohms or 1k farad capacitor. Given the inherent variations in most electronic components, three significant digits are adequate for representation of results.

Chap 1 - 14

Frequency Spectrum of Electronic Signals

Non repetitive signals have continuous spectra often occupying a broad range of frequencies Fourier theory tells us that repetitive signals are composed of a set of sinusoidal signals with distinct amplitude, frequency, and phase. The set of sinusoidal signals is known as a Fourier series. The frequency spectrum of a signal is the amplitude and phase components of the signal versus frequency.
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Frequencies of Some Common Signals

Audible sounds Baseband TV FM Radio Television (Channels 2-6) Television (Channels 7-13) Maritime and Govt. Comm. Cell phones and other wireless Satellite TV Wireless Devices 20 Hz - 20 0 - 4.5 88 - 108 54 - 88 174 - 216 216 - 450 1710 - 2690 3.7 - 4.2 5.0 - 5.5 KHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz GHz GHz

Chap 1 - 16

Fourier Series
Any periodic signal contains spectral components only at discrete frequencies related to the period of the original signal. A square wave is represented by the following Fourier series:

v (t ) = VDC +

2VO 1 1 sin 0 t + sin 3 0 t + sin 5 0 t + ... 3 5

0=2/T (rad/s) is the fundamental radian frequency and f0=1/T (Hz) is the fundamental frequency of the signal. 2f0, 3f0, 4f0 , etc. are called the second, third, and fourth harmonic frequencies.
Chap 1 - 17

Amplifier Basics
Analog signals are typically manipulated with linear amplifiers. Many signal produced by transducers as very small in value (weak) and can easily be corrupted by noise. If a weak signal were to be sampled by an A/D converter, much information would be lost. Amplifiers are designed to provide gain in the form of a scalar value.
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Amplifier Basics
An idea amplifier would be completely linear, meaning the output would be identical to the input signal, except for having a larger magnitude. Any deviation from this is considered a distortion of the signal, whether intentional or unintentional. vo(t) = Avi(t) Amplifiers can also be used to provide current gain to a signal (power amplifiers).

Chap 1 - 19

Amplifier Symbol
Amplifier circuit symbol First circuit shows an amplifier being used with a single-ended input Second circuit shows an amplifier being used with a differential input Typically the output of the amplfier is single ended and reference to a common ground. Amplifier voltage gain is: Current Gain

A=

A=

io ii

vo vi A=

Power Gain

voio = Av Ai vi ii
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Amplifier Input/Output Response

vi = sin2000t V Av = -5 Note: negative gain is equivalent to 180 degrees of phase shift.

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Amplifier Power
Since amplifiers are typically used to increase the energy contained within a signal, the amplifier requires an external power supply.

Amplifier Saturation
A typical amplifier powered by power supplies cannot output a signal larger than there voltages and in most cases this limitation is a fraction of a voltage to volts in value. Signal distortion results if an amplifier tries to drive the output voltage beyond this limit (clipping)

Gain in Decibels
Sometimes it is beneficial or easier to express gain with a logarithmic measure in dB (decibels) Due to the wide range of gains contained in various circuits ( < 1 up to >10,000, gain is commonly displayed in dB (log) Voltage gain in decibels: 20log|Av| dB Current gain in decibels: 20log|Av| dB Power gain in decibels: 10log|Av| dB

Amplifier Frequency Response

Amplifiers can be designed to selectively amplify specific ranges of frequencies. Such an amplifier is known as a filter. Several filter types are shown below:

Low Pass

High Pass

Band Pass

Band Reject

All Pass

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Voltage Amplifier

Four Amplifier Types

Voltage Amplifier Current Amplifier

Transconductance

Transresistance

Single Time Constant Networks

Bode Plots (Low Pass)

Bode Plots (High Pass)

Circuit Element Variations

All electronic components have manufacturing tolerances.
Resistors can be purchased with 10%, 5%, and 1% tolerance. (IC resistors are often 10%.) Capacitors can have asymmetrical tolerances such as +20%/-50%. Power supply voltages typically vary from 1% to 10%.

Device parameters will also vary with temperature and age. Circuits must be designed to accommodate these variations. We will use worst-case and Monte Carlo (statistical) analysis to examine the effects of component parameter variations.
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Tolerance Modeling
For symmetrical parameter variations Pnom(1 - ) P Pnom(1 + ) For example, a 10K resistor with 5% percent tolerance could take on the following range of values: 10k(1 - 0.05) R 10k(1 + 0.05) 9,500 R 10,500

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Circuit Analysis with Tolerances

Worst-case analysis
Parameters are manipulated to produce the worst-case min and max values of desired quantities. This can lead to over design since the worst-case combination of parameters is rare. It may be less expensive to discard a rare failure than to design for 100% yield.

Monte-Carlo analysis
Parameters are randomly varied to generate a set of statistics for desired outputs. The design can be optimized so that failures due to parameter variation are less frequent than failures due to other mechanisms. In this way, the design difficulty is better managed than a worstcase approach.
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Worst Case Analysis Example

Problem: Find the nominal and worst-case values for output voltage and source current. Solution: Known Information and Given Data: Circuit topology and values in figure. Unknowns: VOnom, VOmin , VOmax, IInom, IImin, IImax . Approach: Find nominal values and then select R1, R2, and VI values to generate extreme cases of the unknowns. Assumptions: None. Analysis: Next slides

Nominal voltage solution:

nom O

R1nom =V nom R1nom + R2 18 k = 15V = 5V 18 k + 36 k

nom I

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Worst-Case Analysis Example (cont.)

Nominal Source current:

IInom =

VInom 15V = 278A nom nom = 18k + 36k R1 + R2

Rewrite VO to help us determine how to find the worst-case values.

VO = VI

VI R1 = R R1 + R2 1+ 2 R1

VO is maximized for max VI, R1 and min R2. VO is minimized for min VI, R1, and max R2.

VOmax =

15V (1.1) = 5.87V 36K (0.95) 1+ 18K (1.05)

VOmin =

15V (0.95) = 4.20V 36K (1.05) 1+ 18K (0.95)

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Worst-Case Analysis Example (cont.)

Worst-case source currents:

max I

VImax 15V (1.1) = min = 322A min = 18k(0.95) + 36k(0.95) R1 + R2

min I

VImin 15V (0.9) = max = 238A max = 18k(1.05) + 36k(1.05) R1 + R2

Check of Results: The worst-case values range from 14-17 percent above and below the nominal values. The sum of the three element tolerances is 20 percent, so our calculated values appear to be reasonable.
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Monte Carlo Analysis

Parameters are varied randomly and output statistics are gathered. We use programs like MATLAB, Mathcad, SPICE, or a spreadsheet to complete a statistically significant set of calculations.

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Monte Carlo Analysis Result

W C

W C

Histogram of output voltage from 1000 case Monte Carlo simulation.

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Monte Carlo Analysis Example

Problem: Perform a Monte Carlo analysis and find the mean, standard deviation, min, and max for VO, IS, and power delivered from the source. Solution: Known Information and Given Data: Circuit topology and values in figure. Unknowns: The mean, standard deviation, min, and max for VO, IS, and PS. Approach: Use a spreadsheet to evaluate the circuit equations with random parameters. Assumptions: None. Analysis: Next slides

Monte Carlo parameter definitions:

VI = 15(1 + 0.2(RAND() 0.5)) R1 = 18,000(1 + 0.1(RAND() 0.5)) R2 = 36,000(1 + 0.1(RAND() 0.5))

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Monte Carlo Analysis Example (cont.)

Monte Carlo parameter definitions:
VS = 15(1 + 0.2( RAND() 0.5)) R1 = 18,000(1 + 0.1(RAND() 0.5)) R2 = 36,000(1 + 0.1( RAND() 0.5))

Circuit equations based on Monte Carlo parameters:

VO = VI
Results: Vo (V) II (mA) P (mW)

R1 R1 + R2

II =

VI R1 + R2

PI = VI II

Avg 4.96 0.276 4.12

Nom. 5.00 0.278 4.17

Stdev 0.30 0.0173 0.490

Max WC-max Min WC-Min 5.70 5.87 4.37 4.20 0.310 0.322 0.242 0.238 5.04 -3.29 -Chap 1 - 40

Temperature Coefficients
Most circuit parameters are temperature sensitive. P = Pnom(1+1T+ 2T2) where T = T-Tnom Pnom is defined at Tnom Most versions of SPICE allow for the specification of TNOM, T, TC1(1), TC2(2). SPICE temperature model for resistor:
R(T) = R(TNOM)*[1+TC1*(T-TNOM)+TC2*(T-TNOM)2]

Many other components have similar models.

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Numeric Precision
Most circuit parameters vary from less than +/- 1 % to greater than +/- 50%. As a consequence, more than three significant digits is meaningless. Results in the text for the most part will be represented with three significant digits: 2.03 mA, 5.72 V, 0.0436 A, and so on.

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