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Microelectronics Journal
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mejo
art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t
Article history: This paper introduces interesting active element and its application in the field of square and triangular
Received 14 May 2014 wave generators. Active element, so-called Z-Copy Controlled Gain Voltage Differencing Current
Received in revised form Conveyor (ZC-CG-VDCC), has availability of three mutually independently and electronically adjustable
1 November 2014
parameters (transconductance, intrinsic resistance of the current input terminal and current
Accepted 27 November 2014
gain between two terminals) that are very popular for control of applications today. In addition,
Available online 29 December 2014
a proposed device utilizes very useful z-copy (additional auxiliary terminal) features and two
Keywords: terminals providing voltage difference. All mentioned features are beneficial in mixed-mode circuit
Square and triangular wave generator synthesis and design of adjustable applications (active filters, oscillators, generators, modulators, etc.).
PWM
Electronically adjustable properties of the device are involved in the design of an adjustable generator.
Differential mode
The generator provides voltage- and current-mode square wave outputs that can be also used for
Electronic Control
Voltage- and current-mode differential square wave output when very simply modified. Application of the generator in simple pulse
Transconductance width modulator (PWM) is also introduced. A detailed analysis and Spice simulation results are given
Current gain and main features of the circuits are compared to electronically controllable solutions of recent
Voltage differencing current conveyor development in this field.
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mejo.2014.11.008
0026-2692/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
144 R. Sotner et al. / Microelectronics Journal 46 (2015) 143–152
Table 1
Comparison of important electronically controllable generators from available literature.
References No. of No. of Abbreviation Internal Type of control (DC V – DC Duty cycle Current and voltage Differential Type of output
passive active of active subsections bias voltage; DC I – DC bias control output of square wave square wave signals (current
elements elements element current) available available outputs available or voltage)
[2] 3 2 DO-VDBA, FB- OTA þ VBþ VI DC I Yes Yes Yes voltageþ current
VDBA
[3] 3 3 OTA - DC I Yes No No Voltage
[4] 3 3 OTA - DC I Yes No No Voltage
[5] 1 2 MO-CTTA sCA þ OTA DC I N/A N/A N/A Current
[6] 1 2 MO-CCCDTA CDU þOTA DC I N/A N/A N/A Current
[7] 1 2 MO-CCCCTA CCII þ OTA DC I N/A N/A N/A Current
[8] 4 2 DVCC – DC V Yes No N/A Voltage
[9] 4 2 CCII þUCC þ 4 – DC V N/A N/A Yes Voltage
diodes
[10] 2 3 2x – DC V Yes No No Voltage
VCAþ DT þVB
[11] 2 1 CG-CDVA aCA þ DVCA DC V Yes No No Voltage
Proposed 3 1 ZC-CG-VDCC OTA þ ECCII DC I Yes Yes Yes voltageþ current
Notes:
VB – voltage buffer; VI – voltage inverter; aCA – adjustable current amplifier; sCA current amplifier with special input features; CDU – current differencing unit; CCII –
current conveyor of second generation; UCC – universal current conveyor; VCA – voltage controllable amplifier; DVCA – differential input voltage controllable amplifier;
DVCC – differential voltage current conveyor; DT- diamond transistor;
DO-VDBA – dual output voltage differencing buffered amplifier;
FB-VDBA – fully balanced voltage differencing buffered amplifier
MO-CTTA – multiple output current through transconductance amplifier
MO-CCCDTA – multiple output current controlled current differencing transconductance amplifier
MO-CCCCTA – multiple output current controlled current conveyor transcoductance amplifier
CG-CDVA – controlled gain current and differential voltage amplifier
N/A – information is not available or verified
Fig. 1. Z-copy controlled gain voltage differencing current conveyor (ZC-CG-VDCC): (a) behavioral model based on controlled sources and (b) conception of behavioral sub-
block.
on two counterparts (current differencing unit and transconduc- Discussed solutions in Table 1 have some drawbacks:
tance amplifier [1]). A very interesting solution was introduced by
Chien [8]. His generator utilizes two differential voltage current 1) too many passive elements [8,9];
conveyors (DVCCs), four passive elements and it is controllable by 2) too many active elements [3,4,10];
passive elements and by DC control voltage (electronic control 3) not proposed/designed duty cycle control [5–7,9];
was elaborated very precisely). Generator utilizing two current 4) differential square wave output not available [3–8,10,11];
conveyors was presented by Janecek et al. [9]. It has also capability 5) current and voltage square wave output not available simulta-
of electronic control but requires four passive elements and also neously [3,11].
additional diodes, however control of duty cycle was not verified.
However, circuit offers differential square wave output. Circuit We can see (Table 1) that many drawbacks of recently reported
discussed in [10] requires three commercially available devices types are removed in our solution based on so-called Z-Copy
(so-called diamond transistor and two voltage controllable ampli- Controlled Gain Voltage Differencing Current Conveyor (ZC-CG-
fiers) and knowledge of dynamics of used active elements (inte- VDCC). Simple VDCC was firstly reported in [1]. So-called differ-
grator and comparator). Quite simple solution, introduced in [11], ential difference current conveyor (DDCC) [1,12,13] or DVCC [1,8]
was also designed by using of the active element that combines implements very similar types of voltage and current transfer
internal subsections (adjustable current amplifier). Unfortunately, relations. However, no electronic control of basic CMOS structure
generator does not have capability of current and differential is directly possible, as will be discussed in the following section.
square wave output. Despite the fact that internal structure of presented ZC-CG-VDCC is
R. Sotner et al. / Microelectronics Journal 46 (2015) 143–152 145
Table 2
Selected important features of the ZC-CG-VDCC CMOS model.
Controllable parameters
current gain Izp,n/Ix (B [-]) 0.36–3.76 (Iset_B ¼ 100 μA – 20 μA), BW ¼ 39–73 MHz
transconductance Iz_TA, zc_TA/Vp (gm [μS]) 255–1919 (Iset_gm ¼ 10 μA – 150 μA), BW ¼209–505 MHz
intrinsic resistance Vx/Ix (Rx [kΩ]) 2.53–0.451 (Iset_Rx ¼ 10 μA – 150 μA)
Table 3
Design parameters of the generator.
C¼ 40 pF
Rc ¼ 5 kΩ
R¼ 1 kΩ
Rx ¼1 kΩ (Iset_Rx ¼ 34 μA)
gm ¼ 1 mS (Iset_gm ¼ 54 μA) Fig. 4. DC characteristic of the comparator as part of ZC-CG-VDCC.
B¼ 1 (Iset_B ¼ 81 μA)
Fig. 7. Transient responses of currents and voltages thru/on important passive elements/nodes and parts (generator is running).
R. Sotner et al. / Microelectronics Journal 46 (2015) 143–152 147
where control and other features (AC, DC, dynamics, time domain …) of
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi proposed ZC-CG-VDCC CMOS model are given in [26,27]. Some of
W M1;2 them are summarized in Table 2.
g m ¼ 2 I set_gm K Pn : ð2Þ
LM1;2
Fig. 8. Modification of the generator having possibility of duty cycle control. Fig. 10. Example of the tuning of the generator for two discrete values of B.
Fig. 11. Tuning of the generator: (a) repeating frequency vs. current gain and Fig. 12. Transient response for f0 adjusting with D¼ 80%: (a) triangle wave and
(b) output amplitudes in dependence on repeating frequency. (b) square wave.
levels has form: internal structure of VDCC it is valid that Vz_TA ¼Vx þVRx. Therefore, we
can state that Ix ¼I/R ¼(Vx þVRx)/R/, where R/ ¼RþRx or also Ix ¼IR ¼ Vx/
g m RC
7V SQ _ max ffi 8 V TR_ max :k ¼ 8 V TR_ max ; ð6Þ R. However, it is valid only if voltage VSQ_max is found in linear range of
g m RC 1
Vx ¼f(Vz_TA) characteristic, see Fig. 5 (for R¼1 kΩ).
which gives 7V SQ _ max ffi 8 V TR_ max 1:25. Starting information is Input voltage VSQ_max (input voltage in integrator point of view)
saturation output voltage of the comparator. This voltage achieves is in saturation corner of voltage buffer between Vz_TA and Vx
two saturation corners 7VSQ_max that are given by V SQ _ max ¼ terminal of conveyor part of VDCC (we suppose theoretically
2I set_gm RC . The constant 2 comes from current multiplication VSQ_max ¼0.54 V at the output of comparator) and voltage at
by current mirrors in OTA section (Fig. 2). Expected value is VSQ_max X terminal is near to 200 mV. This setting was ensured by the
¼ 2 54e-6 5e3 ¼ 0.54 V. In accordance with (6), we can intended design of comparator to high output voltage (higher than
calculate estimated value of VTR_max ¼0.54/1.25¼0.43 V. The dyna- linear range of Vx). This fact also defines current Ix, which is also
mical characteristic of the comparator is depicted in Fig. 4. out of linear range (Ix_max ¼Vx_max/R ¼0.2/1.103 ¼200 μA) of char-
Inaccuracy of thresholds and saturation corners is caused by acteristic Izp (or Izn) ¼f(Ix). Maximal saturation current limit of IC
parasitic voltage offset. Additionally, Rc is smaller than 5 kΩ (capacitor) is defined by current sources Ib1 in CMOS model
because node of z_TA has DC resistance (internal parameters of (Fig. 2), in fact Ib1.B (where Ib1 in Fig. 2 has value 100 μA) [26].
CMOS model of VDCC) Rz_TA E50 kΩ (for Iset_gm ¼54 μA). There- We can observe this behavior also in Fig. 6. The maximal current IC
fore, overall value of the resistance in the node is smaller charging the working capacitor is directly determined by Ib1.B.
(E 4.55 kΩ and k ¼1.28). We can determine equations for both half periods (in our case
We can use limited dynamical ranges of active element or its in Fig. 3) as:
subsection as advantages. It seems to be a good idea for generator
design, because this application is nonlinear in general principle. The 2V TR_ max I C_ max
¼ ; ð7Þ
voltage at z_TA terminal is the same as VSQ and because for CCII in T1 C
R. Sotner et al. / Microelectronics Journal 46 (2015) 143–152 149
Fig. 14. Generator providing symmetrical (differential) square wave output (VSQþ , VSQ ).
4V TR_ max I b1 BC
T ¼ T1 þT2 ¼ ; ð15Þ
ðI b1 B þ I d ÞðI b1 B I d Þ
and repeating frequency has then the following form:
1 Ib1 B 1 þ ðId =I b1 BÞ 1−ðI d =I b1 BÞ Ib1 B 1 þ ðId =I b1 BÞ 1−ðI d =I b1 BÞ k
f0 ¼ ¼ ≅ ;
T 4V TR_ max C 4 2Iset_gm RC C
ð16Þ
Fig. 13. Transient response for f0 adjusting with D ¼20%: (a) triangle wave and
where k is amplitude relation (6) between VSQ_max and VTR_max.
(b) square wave. The ratio k can be used as a result of approximate Eq. (6) or as real
ratio of produced signal amplitudes. The duty cycle is defined as:
2V TR_ max I C_ max
¼ ; ð8Þ T1 1 I
T2 C D¼ ¼ 1− d ¼ 0 : 5ð1−nÞ; ð17Þ
T 2 I b1 B
where where parameter n ¼Id/Ib1B represents relation between duty cycle
2V TR_ max C 2V TR_ max C and repeating frequency. Limits of Id (and also D) are theoretically
T1 ¼ ffi ; ð9Þ restricted to maximal value given by 7Ib1B. Available setting of
I C_ max I b1 B
the repeating frequency independently on duty cycle is also
2V TR_ max C 2V TR_ max C possible if matching condition of constant ratio n keeps fulfilled
T2 ¼ ffi ; ð10Þ (Id ¼(1–2D)Ib1B). Repeating frequency can also be rewritten to
I C_ max ð I b1 BÞ
simplified form:
and overall period is
I b1 Bð1 DÞDk
4V TR_ max C f0 ¼ : ð18Þ
T ¼ T 1 þT 2 ¼ : ð11Þ 2I set_gm RC C
I b1 B
A possibility of simple control f0 independently of D also by
Repeating frequency can be expressed as: Iset_gm is obvious. However, such adjusting (gm) also changes level
I b1 B I b1 B of produced amplitudes, see (6).
f0 ¼ ¼ ; ð12Þ The simulation results of available output signals are in Fig. 9
4V TR_ max C 4 I set_gm 2RC =k C
for D¼ 50%. Tuning of the generator is documented in Fig. 10, for
where k means real ratio of both produced amplitudes. The two discrete values of B ¼1 and 3. Repeating frequency was 1.7 and
simulated results for above discussed design parameters are in 4.385 MHz. Simulated dependences of repeating frequency on B
Fig. 7. The results presented in Fig. 7 are important for further and output amplitudes (peak-to-peak values) on repeating fre-
discussion. The results in Fig. 7 support validity of Eq. (12) and quency are in Fig. 11. Simulations prove that repeating frequency is
150 R. Sotner et al. / Microelectronics Journal 46 (2015) 143–152
Fig. 15. Transient responses of differential square wave output for two selected frequencies.
Fig. 16. Behavioral model of the generator employing DT-s for preliminary
experimental tests.
Fig. 17. Measured transient responses of the triangle and square wave generator.
Fig. 18. ZC-CG-VDCC-based pulse width modulator utilizing generator from Fig. 3.
5. Conclusion
Fig. 19. Results of the PWM simulation – solution from Fig. 18: (a) example of linear
sweep and (b) example of harmonic excitation. The details of designed generator are summarized in Table 4.
Our solution is useful for voltage- and current-mode signal proces-
sing, where square wave input signal is required. Simulations
and it provided the resulting repeating frequency 625 kHz. Mea- confirmed analytical presumptions and expectations. Note that
surement results are in Fig. 17, where f0 ¼555 kHz was obtained. functions of internal sections of ZC-CG-VDCC can be interchanged
Estimation (the first part of (19)) of repeating frequency from (integrator is created by OTA and comparator by ECCII section, see
produced amplitudes (VSQ, VTR) provides value of 583 kHz. The Fig. 1b) in order to obtain another solution of the generator. Simple
results prove workability of the concept. exemplary application of ZC-CG-VDCC in electronically controllable
152 R. Sotner et al. / Microelectronics Journal 46 (2015) 143–152
Table 4
Summarization of gained features from analysis and simulations.
No. of passive Repeating Range of Frequency Output levels in single-ended Power consumption for Power consumption for
elements frequency D¼ 50% parameter range [MHz] mode [VP-P] VTR/VSQ min. f0 [mW] D ¼50% max. f0 [mW] D¼ 50%
control
Fig. 3a 3 f 0 ¼ Ib1 B=4V TR_ max C B 〈1; 3〉 Iset_B 1.0 4.385 0.78/1.10 6.28 4.94
〈81; 37〉 μA
a
C¼ 40 pF, Rx ¼ 1 kΩ (Iset_Rx ¼34 μA), R ¼1 kΩ, gm ¼ 1 mS (Iset_gm ¼ 54 μA)