Term Paper Report

Slew rate enhancement techniques of Operational Amplifier

Supervisor: Dr. Kirmender SIngh

Submitted to Submitted by
Mr. Shivaji Tyagi Shubham Sharma (16102212)

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of Technology

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION

ENGINEERING

JAYPEE INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, NOIDA

Slew rate and rise time: Not quite the same

In What’s that signal’s bandwidth?, we took a look at the classic relationship between rise time and
bandwidth. A discussion of rise time often leads to the question: is this the same thing as slew rate?

Let’s take a look at slew rate, a concept similar to rise time but with some important differences. As
shown in Figure 1, the rise time of a step response is defined as the time it takes for the waveform
to transition from 10% to 90% of the final value. (Sometimes rise time is defined using 20/80%.)
Note that rise time is defined as a percent of the waveform size and is independent of the voltages
involved. The waveform in Fig. 1 has a rise time of about 3 µs.

Figure 1. The rise time of a step response is the time it takes to transition from 10% to 90%
of the final value.

Slew rate is defined as the rate of change of a waveform, which is the same as the slope. It can be
calculated using ΔV/Δt as shown in Figure 2.
 Figure 2. Slew rate is the slope of the waveform, calculated as ΔV/Δt

Fig. 2 shows the ΔV/Δt calculation at the 10% and 90% points, but the calculation can be done at
any location on the waveform. Really, we are just looking for the slope. Note that slew rate is in units
of volts/second (or more commonly volts/µs), consistent with it being a measure of how much the
voltage changes per unit time.

From Fig. 2, we can calculate the slew rate:

Now imagine the case where the step response in Fig. 2 is 10 times larger, going from zero volts to
10 volts with the same 3 µs rise time. The slew rate calculation is:

Sure enough, even though the rise time is the same, the slew rate is 10 times larger because the
voltage is changing at a much higher rate. This highlights the key difference between rise time and
slew rate: the rise time ignores the absolute voltage level and just represents the time it takes for
the waveform to transition while the slew rate describes the rate of voltage change.

Sine wave case

For the sine wave case (Figure 3), we can apply some basic calculus to find the slew rate.

The slew rate (SR) is the slope or derivative of the waveform.

The slew rate will be maximum when the cosine function reaches its maximum of 1. The same thing
occurs but with opposite sign when the cosine function hits -1. Fig. 3 also shows that these
maximum slew rate points occur at the zero crossings of the sine wave.

No surprise, the max slew rate is proportional to the frequency of the waveform and its amplitude.
Bigger waveforms slew faster. Higher frequency waveforms also slew faster.

Figure 3. The sine wave has maximum slew rate at the zero crossings.

Amplifier specifications
So far, we’ve been discussing the slew rate of a voltage waveform, describing how fast the voltage
is changing. Slew rate is used to specify amplifier performance, usually by defining how fast a signal
can slew at the output of the amplifier. This is the maximum slew rate of the amplifier, which may be
different for rising slope and falling slope waveforms.

The bandwidth of an amplifier is often limited by the slew rate performance. Full power bandwidth
(FPBW), also called large signal bandwidth, is defined as the highest frequency that the amplifier
can produce at its largest output voltage swing. Assuming the FPBW is limited by the amplifier
maximum slew rate, FPBW can be calculated by rearranging the previous equation.
 Applications
Slew rate is an important specification for operational amplifiers, especially when dealing with large
output swings. References 2 and 3 are good sources for additional information on how slew rate
effects op amp performance.

You may hear slew rate discussed with regard to power supplies, describing how fast a power
supply changes from one voltage or current setting to another. Usually this is related to
programmable power supplies in a test system, sequencing through different test conditions. Voltage
and current slew rate may be part of the test stimulus. That is, we might want to test the
performance of a device as some voltage or current slews in a controlled manner between two
specific values. Or slew rate may be used to control the in-rush current to the device under test.

You may also encounter slew rate as it pertains to electromagnetic interference (EMI). Signals that
have sharp edges tend to radiate higher-frequency content. Faster switching circuits such as digital
logic devices and switching power regulators are notorious for being sources of EMI. Some of these
devices provide slew rate control that allows the designer to choose the edge speed and control the
emissions. In other cases, external circuits may be added to slow down the edges. For example, a
circuit designer may add an RC circuit to a digital clock circuit to reduce the slew rate and radiated
emissions.

So that’s a brief overview of slew rate and how it relates to rise time. Yes, there are similarities but
the key difference is that slew rate describes the actual rate of change of a waveform.
Slew Rate—the op amp speed limit

Slewing behavior of op amps is often misunderstood. It’s a meaty topic so let’s sort it out.

The input circuitry of an op amp circuit generally has a very small voltage between the
inputs—ideally zero, right? But a sudden change in the input signal temporarily drives the feedback
loop out of balance creating a differential error voltage between the op amp inputs. This causes the
output to race off to correct the error. The larger the error, the faster it goes… that is until the
differential input voltage is large enough to drive the op amp into slewing.

If the input step is large enough, the accelerator is jammed to the floor. More input will not make
the output move faster. Figure 1 shows why in a simple op amp circuit. With a constant input voltage
to the closed-loop circuit there is zero voltage between the op amp inputs. The input stage is
balanced and the current IS1 splits equally between the two input transistors. With a step function
change in Vin, greater than 350mV for this circuit, all the IS1 current is steered to one side of the
input transistor pair and that current charges (or discharges) the Miller compensation capacitor, C1.
The output slew rate (SR) is the rate at which IS1 charges C1, equal to IS1/C1.

There are variations, of course. Op amps with slew-enhancement add circuitry to detect this
overdriven condition and enlist additional current sources to charge C1 faster but they still have a
limited slew rate. The positive and negative slew rates may not be perfectly matched. They are close
to equal in this simple circuit but this can vary with different op amps. The voltage to slew an input
stage (350mV for this design) varies from approximately 100mV to 1V or more, depending on the op
amp.

While the output is slewing it can’t respond to incremental changes in the input. The input stage is
overdriven and the output rate-of-change is maxed out. But once the output voltage nears its final
value the error voltage across the op amp inputs reenters the linear range. Then the rate of change
gradually reduces to make a smooth landing at the final value.

There nothing inherently wrong with slewing an op amp—no damage or fines for speeding. But to
avoid gross distortion of sine waves, the signal frequency and/or output amplitude must be limited so
that the maximum slope does not exceed the amplifier’s slew rate. Figure 2 shows that the maximum
slope of a sine wave is proportional to VP and frequency. With 20% less than the required slew rate,
output is distorted into a nearly triangle shape.

Large-signal square waves with very fast edges tilt on the rising and falling edges according to the
slew rate of the amplifier. The final portion of a rising or falling edge will have rounding as the
amplifier reaches its small-signal range as shown in figure 1.

In a non-inverting circuit, a minimum 350mV step is required to make this op amp slew, regardless
of gain. Figure 3 shows the slewing behavior for a 1V input step with gains of 1, 2 and 4. The slew
rate is the same for each gain. In G=1, the output waveform transitions to small-signal behavior in
the final 350mV. In G=2 and G=4 the small-signal portion is proportionally larger because the error
signal fed back to the inverting input is attenuated by the feedback network. If connected in a gain
greater than 50, this amplifier would be unlikely to slew because a 350mV step would overdrive the
output.

Slew rate is usually specified in V/μs, perhaps because early general purpose op amps had slew rates
in the range of 1V/μs. Very high speed amplifiers are in the 1000V/μs range, but you would rarely
see it written as 1kV/μs or 1V/ns. Likewise, a nanopower op amp might be specified as 0.02V/μs but
seldom as 20V/ms or 20mV/μs. There’s just no good reason why for some things; it’s just the way we
Abstract and summary of the five paper reviewed

1. A NOVEL SLEW-RATE ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUE FOR ONESTAGE

OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIERS

Authors : Jaime Ramirez-Angulo

Abstract : An efficient technique to improve the slew rate of one stage op-amps is
introduced and verified. It operates by enhancing the output current by almost an
order of magnitude without increasing the supply current under static or small signal
conditions. The technique is only requires the addition of two transistors to a
conventional one-stage operational amplifier.

Summary : A new and simple technique to enhance slew-rate in one-stage operational

amplifiers was introduced and verified by means of SPICE simulations. It was also
verified eperimentally using a breadboard prototype. The technique requires only two
additional transistors and also allows improvement of bandwidth and noise
characteristics. This improvement requires st slight increase of the static power
dissipation of the op-amp but the voltage supply requirements remain the same.
The circuit presented here can be easily modified to implement circuits with rail-rail
common-mode input signal swing.

2. A SIMPLE TECHNIQUE TO SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCE SLEW RATE AND

BANDWIDTH OF ONE-STAGE CMOS OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIERS

Authors : Jaime Ramirez-Angulo and Michael Holmes

Abstract : A simple technique to modify a conventional one-stage op-amp for

operation as a class AB amplifier is discussed. This technique leads to significant slew
rate and bandwidth enhancement with essentially equal silicon area and static power
dissipation requirements. Experimental results of test chip prototype in 0.5pm CMOS
technology are presented. Results verify slew rate and bandwidth enhancement factors
of almost one orderof magnitude.
Summary : A simple scheme to improve slew rate and gainbandwidth of a one stage op-
amp was presented. The scheme was verified experimentally and it is especially
attractive since it requires no additional silicon area andor power dissipation. It allows
wide range programming of the op-amp characteristics, and due to this advantage, it is
believed it can find widespread utilization.

3. A Simple Slew Rate Enhancement Technique with Improved Linearity and Preserved
Small Signal Performance

Authors : Bin Huang and Degang Chen

Abstract : A simple yet very effective slew rate enhancement (SRE) method is proposed.
The proposed SRE feedback is off for small signal operation to preserve an amplifier’s
small signal performance, and is activated to enhance slew rate (SR) and linearity only
when an amplifier is slewing. Compared with a conventional OTA, the OTA with the
proposed SRE scheme shows SRE by a factor of 23.2, THD improvement of 6dB and
preserved small signal performance with only 1.2% area and 2% power consumption
overhead. Compared with the adaptive biasing method, the proposed scheme shows
300% SR improvement, 18dB THD improvement but with power and area
consumption decreased by 11.1% and 25% respectively.

Summary : A simple yet very effective SRE method has been introduced. Compared
with the conventional OTA, the proposed OTA preserves small signal performance and
improves SR by a factor of 23.2 and THD by 6dB, but the power and area overhead is
only 2% and 1.2% of those of the conventional OTA. Compared with the adaptive OTA,
the SR and THD of the proposed OTA are respectively improved by 3 times and by
18dB. Due to the little power consumption, small area overhead, design simplicity and
high effectiveness of the proposed SRE method, the method is suitable for applications
which requires low static power dissipation but with considerable capacitive driving
capability.
4. A Fast Settling Slew Rate Enhancement technique for Operational Amplifiers

Authors : Siddhartha, Gopal Krishna, Bahar Jalali-Farahani

Abstract : This paper presents a fast settling SRE (Slew Rate Enhancement)
technique for operational amplifiers. An opamp using a constant-gm biasing
together with the proposed SRE circuit is designed and it is shown that stable large
and small signal characteristics can be achieved across the wide range of
temperature. The opamp was designed and laid out in Jazz 0.18μm process using
1.8V supply voltage. The core circuit consumes 3mA while the SRE circuit has a
static power consumption of only 200uA (%6.67 of the power of the core circuitry).
The slew rate of the opamp has increased from 25 V/us to 150 V/us at room
temperature. The low variation of both small signal as well as large signal
characteristics of the opamp across the temperature has been verified by Spectre
simulation using PSP models.

Summary : This paper presents a method of enhancing the slew rate of an

operational amplifier. It was shown that the proposed technique has a faster settling
compared to the prior work. The proposed method can be used in conjunction with
the constant-gm biasing technique to ensure the robust operation of Opamp across
large temperature variation.
The proposed technique is especially useful for Opamps driving large capacitive
loads. The power consumption would reduce significantly as the static power is
determined by settling requirement instead of Opamp driving capability. The
hybrid biasing scheme guarantees minimal variation for unity-gain bandwidth as
well as transconductance of the Opamp.

5. Slew-Rate and Gain Enhancement in Two Stage Operational Amplifiers

Authors : Aldo Pe˜na Perez, Nithin Kumar Y.B., Edoardo Bonizzoni, and Franco
Maloberti

Abstract : A two stage op-amp with an effective technique to enhance slew-rate and
gain is presented. The enhancement is provided by an auxiliary monitor circuit which
is activated in slewing conditions, but can contribute to the gain in normal conditions.
The amplifier, simulated in a 0.18 um technology, achieves 74 dB DC gain, 160 MHz
bandwidth and 26.8 V/us slew-rate for a load capacitance of 1.75 pF with 362 uW power
consumption, considering a supply voltage of 1.8 V.
Summary : The proposed slew-rate boosting technique also obtains an
increase of gain and bandwidth; a proper design optimization
significantly reduces the extra power needed that measure the power effectiveness in
achieving bandwidth and slew-rate.
Bibliography :
[1]Siddhartha, Gopal Krishna, Bahar Jalali-Farahani., A Fast Settling Slew Rate
Enhancement technique for Operational Amplifiers 2007/0229158A1
[2]Jaime Ramirez-Angulo ,“A novel slew rate enhancement technique for one stage
operational amplifiers”, IEEEAC, 2006.
[3] Jaime Ramirez-Angulo and Michael Holmes ., “A simple technique to
significantly enhance the slew rate and bandwidth of one stage operational
amplifiers”, ISSCC 2007, pp. 468
[4] Siddhartha, Gopal Krishna, Bahar Jalali-Farahani, “A Fast Settling Slew Rate
Enhancement technique for Operational Amplifiers”, Solid-State Electronics
[5] Bin Huang* and Degang Chen*, “A Simple Slew Rate Enhancement Technique
with Improved Linearity and Preserved Small Signal Performance“, Solid-State
Electronics, in press.