In-class Assignment: Differential amplifier Circuit Instructor: Dr.

Pham Nguyen Thanh Loan

Students name 1. 2.

Students ID

Mark

I. Objectives After this lab students will be able to understand the operation of differential amplifier using CMOS transistor be able to analyze some parameters in differential amplifier such as: Common mode voltage, linear range, differential voltage gain II. Requirements - Students are required to fulfill the work by a group of two. - Students are required to follow step by step all the simulations of Cadence and to answer clearly and cleanly all the questions. - Students are required to submit this document before the due date following the lecturers instruction. III. Lab work realization 1. Theoretical Study Here is a differential pair circuit: Q1. Determine Vout1 and Vout2 in three cases: Vin1 << Vin2: .................................... . Vin1 = Vin2: .. . Fig1 Vin1 >> Vin2: ............................... .

Replace ideal current source in Fig1 by a transistor M3 shown in Fig2: Q2. Determine the common mode voltage (Vin,CM) range for proper operation of differential pair? (Hint: For proper operation, M3 must act like an ideal current source and M1-2 must be biased in saturation region)? ............

Fig2

Here is the curve about the relation between ID1 ID2 (IID) and Vin1 Vin2 (Vin) Q3. The range from -Vin1 to Vin1 is linear range. Comment about the variation in linear range and the slope of this curve when: Width of transistor M1-2 (W) increases: ISS increases: ......................... .

Fig3

2. Experimental Study In this lab, students will use Cadence simulation tools to analyze the operation of different pair amplifier. Three simulation options Cadence will be used in this lab: 1.Transient simulation: With this simulation, the form of signal in time domain is shown. 2. DC simulation: This simulation allows to simulate the relation of different parameters in circuits such as Vout vs. Vin (dc voltage), or the dependence of Vout on component dimensions (W, L, C, R etc.). Students can export the characteristic curve between Vout and Vin of amplifier by this simulation.
2

- PSS simulation: This simulation allow to extract different gain of an amplifier: power gain, voltage gain and the relation between gain and circuit parameters as well. 2.1. Deferential pair circuit schematic Here is a simple schematic of differential pair circuit

Fig4. Schematic of differential pair Before implementing simulation, let set the variables of this circuit following below table: Component name V11 V12 Component Type vsin vsin Parameters Dc voltage Amplitude Frequency Dc voltage Amplitude Frequency Dc voltage Amplitude Frequency Variable name vcm (common mode voltage) noise (common mode noise) vdc vin2 -vdc vin1 Initial value 0V 0V 1Khz 0V 0V 100hz 0V 0V 100hz
3

V13

vsin

V4 M0-1 M2

vdc nch nch

Initial phase for Sinusoid Dc volage Num of finger Num of finger

180 vbias n0 n1 0.75 V 1 1

In this lab, the simulation is divided into four parts: - Determine the common mode voltage range for proper operation of differential pair - Consideration of DC characteristic between Vout and Vin at a common mode voltage level and the effect of current source M2, transistor M0-1 on this curve. - Consider the effect of common mode voltage, current source, dimension of transistor on different voltage gain. - Consider effect of common mode noise on the circuit. Note: Set supply voltage = 3V for all simulations 2.2. Determine the common mode voltage range Step 1: Choose dc mode in simulation option. Step 2: Set vcm as the sweep variable from 0 V to 3 V. Step3: In schematic window, choose Vp net (in Fig4) to observe the dependence of Vp on common mode voltage vcm and drain terminal of M2 to observe the current source vs vcm Step4: Run simulation, draw the curves

Draw Vp = f(vcm) and Isource = f(vcm) Step5: From the curves, determine the range of common mode voltage vcm (when I source becomes unchanged). From..to.V. At this condition, determine the operation region of current source M2? ..

2.3. DC characteristic of differential pair a) Consider effect of current source on dc characteristic of differential pair Step1: Choose a random vcm value from the range that is defined from part 2.2 Step2: In dc simulation option, set vdc as the sweeping variable and choose the sweep range from -3 to 3V. Step3: In schematic window, choose vout1 and vout2 net to obtain the dc characteristic Step4: : On the Simulation window, Choose Tools=>Parametric Analysis to analyze the dependence of dc characteristic on the size of current source M2. In parametric analysis window, fill the variable name as n1, choose sweep range from 10 to 50. Choose Total steps = 3. Then, in parametric analysis window, choose Analysis => Start. Step5: Plot DC characteristic with different magnitude of current source

DC characteristic with variable current source Comment on the variation of linear range, the slope of DC curve when current source change

 b) Consider effect of transistor size on dc characteristic of differential pair Step1: Repeat steps 1 -3 from part a) ( from part a, set n1 =50 fingers) Step2: Replace sweep variable n1 by the width of transistors M1-0 n0 (from 10 to 50 fingers with step =3) Step3: Plot DC characteristic with different width of M0-1

DC characteristic with variable transistor width Comment on the variation of linear range, the slope of DC curve when transistors width change 2.4. AC analysis of differential pair This simulation will identify the effect of common mode voltage, current source, transistors width on different voltage gain of circuit by using pss mode simulation. To analyze different voltage gain, student must follow the steps below:

Step1: Reset n1, n0 to 1 finger, set vin1 = vin2 = 0.05 V (amplitude of input signal) Step2: In Analyze, Choose PSS mode operation (button pss). In Fundamental Tones, click on a frequency tone for choosing the small signal. Next, choose Auto Calculate in Beat Frequency table to confirm the center frequency is 100 Hz. In Output Harmonics, set number of harmonics is 1 to observe only 100 Hz component .For Accuracy Defaults table, choose moderate button. Next, click on Sweep button. Then, choose vcm for sweep variable (from 0 to 3v with step size is 0.5). Once this step finishes, you set the common mode voltage as sweeping variable in PSS mode. Step3: On the Simulation window, Choose Tools=>Parametric Analysis to setup another variable, n1. In parametric analysis window, fill the variable name as n1, choose sweep range from 10 to 50. Choose Total steps = 3. Then, in parametric analysis window, choose Analysis => Start. Step4: When simulation finishes, on schematic window, choose Results=>Direct Plot => Main Form. A Direct Plot Form window appears. Choose pss button. In Function, choose Voltage Gain button. Next, choose variable button in Sweep part. Select Magnitude for Modifier . Click on 100 for Input and Output Harmonics. In order to obtain the differential voltage gain, in Select part, choose + - Output and + - Input nets. On schematic window, to show different gain of circuit, click on the nets: vout2, vout1, vin2, vin1. Step5: On schematic window, to show different gain of circuit, click on the nets: vout2, vout1, vin2, vin1. to plot different voltage gain of circuit common mode voltage with variable current source. Step6: Plot the curve

Voltage gain vs common mode voltage and variation of n1 Identify the common mode voltage and n1 values that give the maximum voltage gain vcm =V, n1 =.fingers => different voltage gain =.

Step7: Modify n1 =50, repeat step 3 but replace n1 by n0. Run simulation an plot the relation between different voltage gain and width of transistors curve.

Voltage gain vs common mode voltage and variation of n0 Identify the common mode voltage and n0 values that give the maximum voltage gain vcm =V, n0 =.fingers => different voltage gain = 2.5. Effect of common mode voltage noise on different amplifier Common mode voltage noise has the great effect on operation of differential pair. To evaluate this effect, CMRR (Common mode rejection ratio) is used. This effect appears when the circuit is not symmetric or the current source is not ideal. In this lab, this effect is considered simply by comparing the different output signal at two values of common mode voltage. Use transient simulation to complete this experiment. (Note: In this simulation. the common mode noise (variable noise) is set at 0.005 V) Step1: With vcm chosen from part 2.4, use transient simulation with transient time = 0.1 s. Step2: To observe the differential output signal, in simulation window, choose Results => Direct Plot => Main form. In Direct Plot Form window, choose tran button for Analysis. In Function, choose Voltage. At Select, choose Differential Nets. On schematic window, choose vout2 and vout1 net to show the vout2 vout1 signal. Plot this signal in the table below:

Different output signal vs time Step3: Modify vcm (this vcm is chosen from the curve in part 2.4 at the point when the voltage gain is not constant), Repeat Step1 and 2. Observe the different output signal.

Different output signal vs time Compare two results of two figures above:..............................

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