Inter national J our nal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE) V ol. 9, No. 6, December 2019, pp. 5046 5059 ISSN: 2088-8708, DOI: 10.11591/ijece.v9i6.pp5046-5059 r 5046 Pr oposal and design methodology of switching mode lo w dr opout r egulator f or bio-medical applications K enya K ondo 1 , Hir oki T amura 2 , K oichi T anno 3 1 Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Agriculture and Engineering, Uni v ersity of Miyazaki, Japan 2 Department of En vironmental Robotics, Uni v ersity of Miyazaki, Japan 3 Department of Electrical and System Engineering, Uni v ersity of Miyazaki, Japan Article Inf o Article history: Recei v ed Dec 22, 2018 Re vised Apr 25, 2019 Accepted Jun 25, 2019 K eyw ords: V oltage re gulator Lo w dropout On-of f control Bio-medical Analog front end ABSTRA CT The switching operation based lo w dropout (LDO) re gulator utilizing on-of f control is presented. It consists of simple circuit elements which are comparator , some logic g ates, switched capacitor and feedback circuit. In this study , we tar get the applica- tion to the po wer supply circuit for the analog front end (AFE) of bio-medi cal system (such as daily-used bio-monitoring de vices) whose re quired maximum load current is 50 A. In this paper , the design procedure of the proposed LDO has been clarified and actual circuit design using the procedure has been done. The proposed LDO has been e v aluated by SPICE simulation using 1P 2M 0.6 m CMOS process de vice parame- ters. From simulation results, we could confirm that the lo w quiescent current of 1 A with the output ripple of 5 mVpp. The circuit area is 0.0173 mm 2 in spite of using 0.6 m design rules. The proposed circuit is suitable for adopting to the light load and lo w frequenc y applications. Copyright c 2019 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science . All rights r eserved. Corresponding A uthor: K oichi T anno, Department of Electrical and System Engineering, Institute of Education and Research for Engineering, Uni v ersity of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuenkibanadai-Nishi, Miyazaki, 889-2192, Japan. Email: tanno@cc.miyazaki-u.ac.jp 1. INTR ODUCTION Recently e xpanding demands for bio-medical de vices ha v e dri v en e xtensi v e research on lo w-po wer mix ed-signal inte grated circuit technologies [1-6]. The b uilding blocks of the analog front-end (AFE) in the bio-medical system-on-chip (SoC) lik e as instrumentation amplifier (IA), programmable g ain amplifier (PGA), lo w-pass filter (LPF) and analog-to-digital con v erter (ADC) require the po wer supply v oltages suitable for each, therefore the multiple lo w dropout (LDO) re gulators are implemented as the post-re gulators follo wing the dc-dc con v erters to achie v e high-ef ficienc y po wer management solution [5-6]. Although the con v entional analog-LDOs (ALDOs) ha v e some adv antages lik e as lo w-noise, high po wer supply rejection ratio (PSRR) and high accurac y , the y occup y the lar ge circuit area due to po wer MOS transistor operated in saturation re gion [7-9]. This causes the circuit area increase of the po wer management unit (PMU) in SoC, therefore the importance of de v eloping area-ef ficient LDO is gro wing up. On the other hand, the dynamic range and frequenc y range of the bio-potential signals are limited such as V to mV in the dynamic range and sub-1 Hz to a fe w kHz in the frequenc y [10]. In the bio-medical signal processing, the on-chip or of f-chip high-pass and lo w-pass filters which ha v e the v ery lo w cut-of f fr equenc y are often used to eliminate dc v oltage (ac-coupling) and une xpected high frequenc y noise [3]–[6],[10]. On the signal band design aspect, since AFE eliminates out- of-band noise by o wn LPF , the po wer supply noise specification at high frequenc y can be alle viated. Therefore, the swit ching po wer supply circuit li k e as digit al-LDOs (DLDOs) can be applied to AFE of t he bio-medical J ournal homepage: http://iaescor e .com/journals/inde x.php/IJECE Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 r 5047 SoC. Ho we v er , DLDO has a complicated system architecture and its circuit design becomes dif ficult. As an ultra-lo w area LDO, the switching mode LDO util izing the on-of f h ysteretic control ha v e been proposed in [15]. Although its maximum output current ability is small as 100 A, its circuit design is v ery simple by utilizing on-of f h ysteret ic control, and the circuit area is v ery small as 0.001 mm 2 . Thus, this is v ery ef fecti v e method for area minimization. In the bio-medical application, since the amplifier and filter used in AFE treat a small dynamic range and lo w frequenc y band, these circuits are often designed by using the subthreshold re gion [4]. Therefore, lar ge output current of LDO in this application is not required. Ho we v er , since its output ripple v oltage is lar ge as 47 mV and the ripple frequenc y (swit ching frequenc y) is lo w a s a fe w kHz, its output ripple may interfere with the signal band of the AFE of the bio-medical SoC. Furthermore, the LDO proposed in [15] uses the Schmitt trigger in v erter to define the magnitude of the output ripple, therefore design for reducing output ripple is esse ntially dif ficult. Hence, [15] states that this topology is suitable only for circuits with lo w sensiti vity to supply v oltage ripples such as digital circuits. In order to enable the area-ef ficient switching mode LDO application to bio-medical AFE, in this pa- per , we propose a method to control the ripple v oltage and switching frequenc y with circuit delay . The proposed circuit consists of comparator , logic circuit, switched capacitor and feedback circuit. From mathematical anal- ysis of the switching operation, the design procedure of output ripple and switching c ycle time of the proposed re gulator can be clarified. The ripple v oltage and switching frequenc y are controlled by the response time of the comparator which is tuned by adjusting the tail current of the comparator . From this feasibility study , we confirmed the proposed circuit can be adopted to AFE of bio-medical sys tem when the output ripple of the proposed circuit is designed to eliminate properly by LPF in the AFE. This paper consists of 5 chapters. Chapter 2 presents the basic topology and detail of the design guideline deri v at ion of the proposed topology . Chapter 3 presents the practical ci rcuit design e xample. The simulation results are sho wn in Chapter 4, follo wed by the conclusion in Chapter 5. 2. CONVENTION AL SWITCHING MODE LDO Figure 1 (a) and (b) respecti v ely sho w the circuit s chematic and the conceptual w a v eform of con v en- tional switching mode LDO which consists of Schmitt trigger comparator and pass switch [15]. Schmitt trigger comparator consists of Schmitt trigger in v erter and pre-amplifier . The on/of f time of the pass switch depends on the h ysteresis v oltage V hy s and delay time T del ay of Schmitt trigger comparator , and the output v oltage ripple v out also depends on them. In general, the h ysteresis v oltage of Schmitt trigger in v erter is lar ge v ariation because of it has high sensiti vity with the process v ariation and m ismatch of the transistor , and it is dif ficult to design it smaller than a fe w tens of mV . Therefore, design for reducing output ripple of the con v entional switching mode LDO is essentially dif ficult. ( a )  S c hm i t t  t r i g g e r C om pa r a t or P M O S P A S S   S W     P A S S   S W  O N P A S S   S W  O F F ( b ) Figure 1. Con v entional switching mode LDO. (a) Circuit schematic. (b) Conceptual w a v eform. 3. CONCEPT OF PR OPOSED CIRCUIT AND DERIV A TION OF DESIGN GUIDELINES Figure 2 (a) sho ws the conceptual circuit model of the proposed circuit. The proposed circuit consist s of switched capacitor circuit, logic circuit, comparator and feedback circuit. The switched capacitor circuit as the output stage consists of the PMOS switch with on resistance R out and decoupling capacitor C L . V D D is the Pr oposal and design methodolo gy of switc hing mode low dr opout... (K enya K ondo) Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
5048 r ISSN: 2088-8708 po wer supply v oltage. The resistor R l oad means the load resistor , and I l oad is pro vided by the proposed circuit. The logic circuit is simple logic g ate lik e as the in v erter and N AND g ate, and are implemented for adjusting size of the output PMOS switch. Its total propag ation delay time is T del ay . The feedback circuit senses the output v oltage v out ( t ) , and it feedbacks v out ( t ) to input. The feedback f actor is = R f b 1 = ( R f b 1 + R f b 2 ) . The comparator compares the v oltage between the reference v oltage V r ef and v out ( t ) , and it controls the on/of f time of the switched capacitor circuit. The equi v alent circuit of the comparator can be modeled by the ideal quantizer and the amplifier which has the finite DC g ain A v = g m R and time constant R C as sho wn in top left of Figure 2 (a). Where v e ( t ) is the input v oltage of the comparator , v amp ( t ) is the output v oltage of the amplification stage, v comp ( t ) is the output v oltage of the ideal quantizer , g m is the transconductance, R is the equi v alent output resistance of the transconductance amplifier , C is the parasitic capacitance which is total capacitance of the output node of the transconductance amplifier . The a v erage output v oltage V out in the steady state is gi v en as follo ws. This equation is identical to general LDO. V out = A v 1 + A v V r ef (1) In the follo wing subsections, the circuit operation in the st eady state is analyzed in detail, and the design guidelines of the circuit parameters with re g ards to the circuit specification are defined. ( a ) ( b ) ( c ) 1 a mp 0 a m p 0 0   2 _ 0 0 0 1 0 2 2 a mp c o m p 0  2 0 0 a mp 0 a m p , 0 V V c o m p C o m p a r a t o r L o g i c P M O S - S W a m p c o m p S w i t c h e d   C a p a c i t o r R R Figure 2. Conceptual models of the proposed circuit. (a) Circuit model. (b) T ypical w a v eforms in the steady state under the condition of the duty ratio 50%. (c) T ransient ramp response of the comparator . 3.1. Design Guideline of Output Switched Capacitor Figure 2 (b) sho ws the typical w a v eforms of each node in the steady state. In the be ginning, we analyze the char ge and dischar ge operation of the output switched capacitor circuit in the steady state. It cl arifies the design guideline of the output PMOS switch R out when the design parameters V out , V D D , R l oad ( I l oad ) are Int J Elec & Comp Eng, V ol. 9, No. 6, December 2019 : 5046 5059 Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 r 5049 gi v en as a specification. The char ging time T O N and the dischar ging time T O F F are automatically controlled by the ne g ati v e feedback. The switching c ycle time T cy cl e is gi v en by T O N + T O F F . In the char ging period (0 5 t < T O N ) , the PMOS switch turns on, and char ge operation occurs by RC step response. The beha vior of v out ( t ) is presented by dif ferential equation (2). R l oad R out + R l oad V D D = C L R 0 out dv out ( t ) dt + v out ( t ) (2) where R 0 out = R out R l oad = ( R out + R l oad ) , and the current of the feedback circuit I f b = V r ef =R f b 1 is ne- glected by setting R 0 out R f b 1 + R f b 2 . The solution of (2) is gi v en as follo ws by fir st order approximation of Maclaurin’ s e xpansion and assuming as T O N C L R 0 out . v out ( t ) = R l oad R out + R l oad V D D n 1 e t C L R 0 out o + v out ( t = 0) e t C L R 0 out ' V D D v out ( t =0) R out v out ( t =0) R load C L t + v out ( t = 0) (3) In the dischar ging period ( T O N 5 t < T cy cl e ) , the PMOS switch tur n s of f, and dischar ge operation oc- curs. T o easily calculation, we assume as t = T O N ! t 0 = 0 . The beha vior of v out ( t ) and its solution are gi v en as (4) and (5) in the same w ay as before and assuming as T O F F C L R l oad . 0 = C L R l oad dv out ( t 0 ) dt 0 + v out ( t 0 ) (4) v out ( t 0 ) = v out ( t 0 = 0) e t 0 C L R load ' v out ( t 0 = 0) C L R l oad t 0 + v out ( t 0 = 0) (5) Ne xt, we discuss about the output ripple v out , switching duty ratio and size of the output PMOS switch. The first terms of (3) and (5) mean the sle w rate of char ge and dischar ge, respecti v ely . Where we assume approximately as v out ( t = 0) ' v out ( t 0 = 0) ' V out about these first terms, and we define as I out = ( V D D V out ) =R out and I l oad = V out =R l oad . Therefore, the beha vior of v out ( t ) at one c ycle operation is summarized as (6). v out ( t ) ' 8 > > < > > : + I out I l oad C L t + v out (0) = K 1 t + v out (0) (0 5 t < T O N ) I l oad C L ( t T O N ) + v out ( T O N ) = K 2 ( t T O N ) + v out ( T O N ) ( T O N 5 t < T cy cl e ) (6) where K 1 = ( I out I l oad ) =C L and K 2 = I l oad =C L are the char ge and dischar ge sle w rate, respecti v ely . The output ripple v oltage v out of each c ycle and the duty ratio D of the switching gi v e follo wing relations by focusing transient swing of v out ( t ) . v out = K 1 T O N = K 2 ( T cy cl e T O N ) = K 2 T O F F (7) D = T O N T cy cl e = K 2 K 1 K 2 = I l oad I out = I l oad V D D V out R out (8) From (7) and (8), follo wing relations are gi v en. ( T O N = D T cy cl e T O F F = (1 D ) T cy cl e (9) v out = K 1 D T cy cl e = K 2 (1 D ) T cy cl e (10) Equation (8) can be re written as (11). I out = V D D V out R out = I l oad D (11) Pr oposal and design methodolo gy of switc hing mode low dr opout... (K enya K ondo) Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
5050 r ISSN: 2088-8708 The drain-source current of PMOS transistor in linear re gion is I ds = C ox K p f ( V g s V th ) V ds V 2 ds = 2 g , where is the carrier mobility , C ox is the g ate-oxide capacitance, K p is the aspect ratio (= W =L ) of the output PMOS switch. V g s , V ds and V th are the g ate-source v oltage, the drain-source v oltage and the threshold v oltage, respecti v ely . The current through the output PMOS switch is gi v en as follo ws. I out = C ox K p f ( V D D V th )( V D D V out ) ( V D D V out ) 2 2 g (12) From (11) and (12), K p is gi v en as follo ws. K p = I l oad max C ox f ( V D D V th )( V D D V out ) ( V D D V out ) 2 2 g D (13) where I l oad max is the required load current and V D D V out means the dropout v oltage. The size of the output PMOS switch can design based on (13). 3.2. Deri v ation of Relationship between T cy cl e , v out and Cir cuit P arameters by Theor etical T ransient Response Analysis Ne xt, the output v olt age ripple v out and the switching c ycle T cy cl e are analyzed in detail. T cy cl e is determined by the delay time of the control logic T del ay and the response time of the comparator . The beha vior of the comparator can be represented by the ramp response as sho wn in Figure 2 (c), where V th comp is the threshold v oltage of the ideal quantizer , and v 0 is the initial v alue of the input ramp w a v eform. When K is the sle w rate of the input ramp w a v eform, the input v oltage of the comparator can be gi v en by v e ( t ) = K t + v 0 . If the initial v alue of v amp ( t ) is defined as v amp ( t = 0) , the dif ferential equation and the solution of v amp ( t ) are gi v en as follo ws. A v ( K t + v 0 ) = C R dv amp ( t ) dt + v amp ( t ) (14) v amp ( t ) = A v K n t C R (1 e t C R ) o + A v v 0 (1 e t C R ) + v amp ( t = 0) e t C R (15) By using (15), the beha vior of v amp ( t ) at one c ycle sho wn in Figure 2(b) can be analyzed in detail. T o easily calculation, we focus on the magnitude information, and define D = 50% and V th comp = 0 . In this condition, the output v oltages at the inflection points can be e xpressed as v out ( t = 0) = V out v out = 2 and v out ( t = T O N ) = V out + v out = 2 . T 1 and T 2 are the response time which v amp ( t ) reaches until V th comp in on and of f period, respecti v ely . ( T 1 = T O N T del ay T 2 = T O F F T del ay (16) A) Char ging period (0 5 t < T O N ) In the char ging period of (0 5 t < T 1 ) , the initial v alue of v e ( t ) is v 1 = + v out = 2 in case of focusing on the magnitude information, and the final v alue of v amp ( t ) is v amp ( t = T 1 ) = 0 . Using these conditions and Eq. (15), the follo wing equation is gi v en. v amp ( t = 0) = A v + v out 2 (1 e + T 1 C R ) + K 1 n C R ( C R T 1 ) e + T 1 C R o (17) In the period of (0 5 t < T O N ) , v amp ( t = T O N ) is gi v en by using (15) and (17) as follo ws. v amp ( t = T O N ) = A v + v out 2 (1 e T delay C R ) + K 1 ( C R T O N ) ( C R T 1 ) e T delay C R  (18) Int J Elec & Comp Eng, V ol. 9, No. 6, December 2019 : 5046 5059 Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 r 5051 B) Dischar ging period ( T O N 5 t < T cy cl e ) T o easily calculation, we define t = T O N ! t 0 = 0 and t = T cy cl e ! t 0 = T O F F . In the period of (0 5 t 0 < T 2 ) , the initial v alue of v e ( t 0 ) is v 2 = v out = 2 , and the final v alue of v amp ( t 0 ) is v amp ( t 0 = T 2 ) = 0 . Using these condition and (15), the foll o wing equation is gi v en. v amp ( t 0 = 0) = A v v out 2 (1 e + T 2 C R ) + K 2 n C R ( C R T 2 ) e + T 2 C R o (19) In the period of (0 5 t 0 < T O F F ) , v amp ( t 0 = T O F F ) is gi v en by using (15) and (19) as follo ws. v amp ( t 0 = T O F F ) = A v v out 2 (1 e T delay C R ) + K 2 ( C R T O F F ) ( C R T 2 ) e T delay C R  (20) C) Deri v ation of T cy cl e and v out As sho wn in Figure 2(b), since the initial and final v alues of v amp ( t ) in each period are equal, (21) and (22) are gi v en. v amp ( t = 0) = v amp ( t 0 = T O F F ) (21) v amp ( t = T O N ) = v amp ( t 0 = 0) (22) Equations (23) and (24) are deri v ed from (17) to (22), respecti v ely . + v out 2 (1 e + T O N T delay C R ) + K 1 C R ( C R T O N + T del ay ) e + T O N T delay C R = v out 2 (1 e T delay C R ) + K 2 ( C R T O F F ) ( C R T O F F + T del ay ) e T delay C R (23) v out 2 (1 e + T O F F T delay C R ) + K 2 C R ( C R T O F F + T del ay ) e + T O F F T delay C R = + v out 2 (1 e T delay C R ) + K 1 ( C R T O N ) ( C R T O N + T del ay ) e T delay C R (24) From (9) and (10), (23) and (24) are the function of T cy cl e . Since these equations are transcendental, the y are dif ficult to solv e algebraically . Therefore, we set E r r or 1 and E r r or 2 as the dif ference of both sides of (23) and (24), and numerically solv e T cy cl e from condition that E r r or 1 and E r r or 2 become zero. E r r or 1 and E r r or 2 are gi v en as follo ws by using (23), (24), (9) and (10). E r r or 1 = + K 1 D T cy cl e 2 (2 e + D T cy cle T delay C R e T delay C R ) + K 1 C R ( C R D T cy cl e + T del ay ) e + D T cy cle T delay C R K 2 ( C R (1 D ) T cy cl e ) ( C R (1 D ) T cy cl e + T del ay ) e T delay C R = 0 (25) E r r or 2 = K 1 D T cy cl e 2 (2 e + (1 D ) T cy cle T delay C R e T delay C R ) + K 2 C R ( C R (1 D ) T cy cl e + T del ay ) e + (1 D ) T cy cle T delay C R K 1 ( C R D T cy cl e ) ( C R D T cy cl e + T del ay ) e T delay C R = 0 (26) Pr oposal and design methodolo gy of switc hing mode low dr opout... (K enya K ondo) Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
5052 r ISSN: 2088-8708 0 . 0 0 0 1 0 . 0 0 1 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 v o u t [ m V ] f a m p [ M H z ] f a m p - v o u t ( I l o a d _ m a x = 1 m A ,   T d e l a y = 1 n s ) C a l c .             S i m . 0 . 1 F 1 F 1 0 F 0 . 0 0 1 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 T c y c l e [ s e c ] f a m p [ M H z ] f a m p - T c y c l e ( I l o a d _ m a x = 1 m A ,   T d e l a y = 1 n s ) C a l c .             S i m . 0 . 1 F 1 F 1 0 F C a l c ,   S i m 0 . 0 0 1 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 0 . 0 0 0 1 0 . 0 0 1 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 T c y c l e [ s e c ] C L [ F ] C L - T c y c l e ( f c a m p = 1 M H z ,   T d e l a y = 1 n s ) 0 . 1 m A 1 m A 1 0 m A 1 0 0 m A C a l c .             S i m . C a l c 0 . 1 m A 1 m A 1 0 m A 1 0 0 m A L a r g e   e r r o r   i s   d u e   t o   1 s t   o r d e r   a p p r o x i m t i o n o f s w i t c h e d - c a p a c i t o r . 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 1 0 . 0 0 1 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 v o u t [ m V ] C L [ F ] C L - v o u t ( f c a m p = 1 M H z ,   T d e l a y = 1 n s ) 0 . 1 m A 1 m A 1 0 m A 1 0 0 m A C a l c .             S i m . L a r g e   e r r o r   i s   d u e   t o   1 s t   o r d e r   a p p r o x i m t i o n o f s w i t c h e d - c a p a c i t o r . 0 . 0 0 1 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 0 . 0 0 0 1 0 . 0 0 1 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 T c y c l e [ s e c ] C L [ F ] C L - T c y c l e ( f a m p = 1 M H z ,   T d e l a y = 1 n s ) 0 . 1 m A 1 m A 1 0 m A 1 0 0 m A C a l c .             S i m . C a l c 0 . 1 m A 1 m A 1 0 m A 1 0 0 m A L a r g e   e r r o r   i s   d u e   t o   1 s t   o r d e r   a p p r o x i m t i o n o f s w i t c h e d - c a p a c i t o r . 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 1 0 . 0 0 1 0 . 0 1 0 . 1 1 1 0 v o u t [ m V ] C L [ F ] C L - v o u t ( f a m p = 1 M H z ,   T d e l a y = 1 n s ) 0 . 1 m A 1 m A 1 0 m A 1 0 0 m A C a l c .             S i m . L a r g e   e r r o r   i s   d u e   t o   1 s t   o r d e r   a p p r o x i m t i o n o f s w i t c h e d - c a p a c i t o r . ( a ) ( b ) Figure 3. V erification results of T cy cl e and v out ( D = 50% ). (a) f amp dependence. (b) C L and I l oad max dependence. T able 1. Component parameters for equi v alent model v erification. Component name (a) f amp dependence (b) C L and I load max Unit dependence I load max 1 0.1, 1, 10, 100 mA V D D 2 2 V V r ef 0.5 0.5 V A v 1000 1000 - = R f b 1 R f b 1 + R f b 2 500 k ohm 500 k ohm +1300 k ohm 500 k ohm 500 k ohm +1300 k ohm - V out 1.8 1.8 V R out 200 2000, 200, 20, 2 ohm D 50 50 % C L 0.1, 1, 10 0.0005, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10 F f amp = 1 2 C R @ 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 1 MHz T delay 1 1 nsec Equations (25) and (26) are complicated, b ut the y can be eas ily solv ed by using the spreadsheet softw are. Here, (25) and (26) deri v e same solution T cy cl e on the condition of D = 50% . The dependence analysis of the v arious circuit parameters by using (25) and (10) are sho wn as follo ws. Figure 3 sho ws the comparison between calculated and simulated (by using circuit model sho wn in Figure 2(a)) v alues of T cy cl e and v out under the conditions sho wn in T able 1. Where f amp = 1 = (2 C R ) is the cut-of f frequenc y of the amplification stage of the comparator . From Figure 3(a), we can confirm that T cy cl e and v out depend on f amp (also depend on T del ay , b ut it isn’ t sho wn), and v out can reduce by adjusting lar ger f amp and selecting lar ger C L . f amp can adjust by the bias current of the comparator , and T del ay should be designed t o minimize the number of g ate stages of the logic circuit. T o minimi ze v out , f amp should be high ( T cy cl e should be small), it causes increase of the bias current of the comparator and the switching current. Therefore, v out has trade-of f with current consumption. From Figure 3 (b), we can confirm that v out depends on C L and I l oad max . W e can find the dif- ferences between calculati on and simulation results when C L and I l oad max are small and lar ge, respecti v ely . These dif ferences are caused by the first order approximation as mentioned in deri v ation of (3) and (5). Ho w- e v er , our design tar get is smaller range of I l oad max and v out . Thus, we can estimate circuit characteristics with good accurac y by using deri v ed equations. T cy cl e is not af fected C L and I l oad max , and v out strongly depends on C L and I l oad max . In the practical design, C L and I l oad max are gi v en by the tar get specification. Therefore, we should design v out by adjusting f amp . 3.3. Curr ent Consumption The a v erage current consumption of the proposed circuit is sum of three components which are the static bias current of the comparator I comp , the current of the feedback resistor I f b and t he a v erage switching current of the switching parts I sw . I D D = I comp + I f b + I sw = I comp + V r ef R f b 1 + X i C i V 2 D D T cy cl e (27) where, C i is the capacitance of each switching node in logic circuit and the g ate capacitance of the output PMOS switch. Int J Elec & Comp Eng, V ol. 9, No. 6, December 2019 : 5046 5059 Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 r 5053 3.4. Design Guideline of the Pr oposed LDO From pre vious discussion, we sho wed that the circuit characteristics of the proposed LDO can be clarified by mathematical analysis. Therefore, we can define design guideline and estimate performance of the proposed circuit. Firstly , the size of output PMOS switch is desi gned by using (13). Secondly , in order to achie v e the required v out , the relationship between T cy cl e , v out and circuit parameters is estimated by (25) or (26). Ne xt, f amp is estima ted by the necessary response time of the comparator , which can be tuned by adjusting the tail current of the comparator . The design flo w is sho wn in Figure 4. D e f i n e   d e s i g n   r e q u i r e m e n t G i v e n   c o n d i t i o n s   f r o m   s p e c i f i c a t i o n - R a n g e   o f   p o w e r   s u p p l y   V D D - T a r g e t   o u t p u t   a v e r a g e   v o l t a g e   V o u t - M i n i m u m   d r o p o u t   v o l t a g e     - M a x i m u m   o u t p u t   c u r r e n t   I l o a d - m a x - P e r m i t t e d   o u t p u t   r i p p l e   v o u t a t   D = 5 0 % - E x t e r n a l   d e c o u p l i n g   c a p a c i t o r   C L - D e v i c e   p a r a m e t e r s   o f   f a b r i c a t e   p r o c e s s S w i t c h e d   c a p a c i t o r   d e s i g n O u t p u t   P M O S   d e s i g n - E s t i m a t e   r e q u i r e d   R o u t - D e f i n e   o u t p u t   P M O S   s i z e f r o m E q . ( 1 3 ) C o m p a r a t o r   d e s i g n C o m p a r a t o r   d e s i g n - D e s i g n   T d e l a y t o   m i n i m u m - E s t i m a t e   T c y c l e f r o m   E q .   ( 2 5 )   o r   ( 2 6 ) - E s t i m a t e   r e q u i r e d   f a m p - S e l e c t   c o m p a r a t o r   t o p o l o g y - D e s i g n   c o m p a r a t o r   p a r a m e t e r s   ( M O S   s i z e ,   I c om p )   B i a s ,   L o o p   g a i n   d e s i g n - D e f i n e   V r e f - D e f i n e     a n d   R f b1 ,   R f b2 - E s t i m a t e   c u r r e n t   c o n s u m p t i o n   I D D D e s i g n   v e r i f i c a t i o n ( S i m u l a t i o n ) Figure 4. Design flo w of proposed LDO. 4. CIRCUIT IMPLEMENT A TION The complete schematic of the proposed re gulator and e v aluated test bench are sho wn in Figure 5 (a). The circuit surrounded by blue dot line is proposed LDO. In this st u dy , we implemented tw o functions that tw o selectors for the output current ability (OUTSEL[1:0]) and po wer mode (PMSEL). The func- tion tables for selectors are sho wn in bottom left of Figure 5 (a). The output current ability selector selects the number of acti v e PMOS switches ( M P 0 - M P 3 ). This function can be used to change t he output current ability by sel ecting the number of parallel connection of PMOS switches. The implementation of the automatic adjustment of this function is future w ork. The po wer mode selector is implemented to select lo w po wer mode (PMSEL=(0) 2 ) or lo w ripple mode (PMSEL=(1) 2 ) depending on the required operation mode. In detail, it adjusts the tail current of the comparator I T AI LC O M P . If the required noise specification of the load circuit of LDO is se v erely , then the operation mode will be set to the lo w ripple mode and LDO operates on smaller output ripple. W e consider the parasitic impedance (inductance L P and resistance R P ) model lik e a s package and sock et surrounded by green dot line in Figure 5 (a) for estimating practical characteristics. The circuits surrounded by red dot line is the bio-medical AFE which consists of IA and LPF to e v aluate for influence of LDO output ripple. IA architecture consists of Fully Balanced Dif ferential Dif ference Amplifier (FBDD A) and Dif ferential Dif ference Amplifier (DD A) proposed in [3]. The LPF is 3rd-order gm-C LPF based on standard PMOS dif ferential amplifiers. The input signal V I N is sinusoidal w a v e which is magnitude of 10 V pp and frequenc y of 500 Hz. The e xternal output capaciti v e load (10 pF) of AFE is equi v alent input capacitance of the oscill o s cope. Figure 5 (b) sho ws the schematic of comparator . W e selected PMOS input dif ferential pair and lo w input reference v oltage V r ef for lo wer supply v oltage operation. The ne g ati v e resistance circuit in the comparator is implemented to enhance the transient response on reasonable lo wer bias current. The feasibility design specifications and component parameters of LDO are listed in T able 2 and 3, respecti v ely . In this study , we use 1P 2M 0.6 m CMOS process for e v aluation of combination with our e xisting AFE circuits [3]. The output PMOS switch is sized with a suitable mar gin for process, v oltage, and temperature (PVT) v ariations by using ( 1 3) . The def ault v alue of OUTSEL[1:0] is (11) 2 in this design. R f b 1 and R f b 2 are selected lar ge v alue for reducing stat ic current consumption. As mentioned pre viously , v out can be designed by adjusting f amp , it means that the tail current of the comparator I T AI L C O M P should be selected by considering the de vice performance of MOS transistors. From the specification of test design, the tail currents of lo w po wer and lo w ripple mode are respecti v ely set 0.25 A and 2.25 A in order to consider reasonable performance and po wer consumption. When the operation mode changed to lo w ripple mode, the output ripple v oltage reduced t o about 1 mV instead of consuming lar ge quiescent current. The layout diagram is sho wn in Figure 5 (c). From this layout diagram, the circuit area is about 0.0173 mm 2 in spite of using 0.6 m design rules. Pr oposal and design methodolo gy of switc hing mode low dr opout... (K enya K ondo) Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
5054 r ISSN: 2088-8708   2 5 0 I R  R       0  1  V _ A F E I N   1 0 O u t p u t S e l e c t o r P r o p o s e d   L D O B u f f e r   A m p   f o r   e v a l u a t i o n P a r a s i t i c   i m p e d a n c e s o f   P a c k a g e              ! C o m p a r a t o r L P F   P M S E L E N O U T S E L [ 1 : 0 ] M P 3 M P 2 M P 1 M P 0 [ 1 ] [ 0 ] 0 * * O F F O F F O F F O F F 1 0 0 O F F O F F O F F E n a b l e 1 0 1 O F F O F F E n a b l e E n a b l e 1 1 0 O F F E n a b l e E n a b l e E n a b l e 1 1 1 E n a b l e E n a b l e E n a b l e E n a b l e F u n c t i o n   o f   O u t p u t   S e l e c t o r P M S E L M o d e I T A I L C O M P 0 L o w   p o w e r   ( L a r g e   r i p p l e ) S m a l l 1 L o w   r i p p l e   ( L a r g e   p o w e r ) L a r g e F u n c t i o n   o f   P o w e r   M o d e   S e l e c t o r     I A V _ A F     ( a ) ( b) ( c ) Figure 5. Designed circuit, simulated test bench and layout. (a) Ov ervie w of circuit and test bench. (b) Schematic of comparator . (c) Layout diagram of LDO. T able 2. Design specifications of test design. Circuit Item v alue LDO CMOS Process 1P 2M 0.6 m CMOS T emperature range –20 to 95 C Po wer supply V D D 1.9 V - 2.2 V Output v oltage V out 1.8 V Minimum dropout v oltage V do min 0.1 V Maximum load current I load max 50 A External decoupling capacitor C L 0.1 F Permitted output ripple v oltage 10 mV ( I load = 5 A - 50 A) Permitted output ripple frequenc y 10 kHz ( I load = 5 A - 50 A) AFE Po wer supply v oltage 1.8 V Po wer supply current 10 A - 20 A Minimum input signal magnitude 10 Vpp Input signal frequenc y range 1 kHz T otal g ain 68 dB LPF cutof f frequenc y 2 kHz PSRR -60 dB ( 10 kHz) Int J Elec & Comp Eng, V ol. 9, No. 6, December 2019 : 5046 5059 Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 r 5055 T able 3. Component parameters of LDO. Component name Size / v alue Component name Size / v alue M P 0 M P 3 6 m / 0.6 m, m=1 R f b 1 1 Mohm PMOS of in v erters 2.4 m / 0.6 m, m=1 R f b 2 2.6 Mohm NMOS of in v erters 1.2 m / 0.6 m, m=1 C I N 0.1 F PMOS of N ANDs 2.4 m / 0.6 m, m=1 C L 0.1 F NMOS of N ANDs 2.4 m / 0.6 m, m=1 R L 10 mohm M P M 1 2.4 m / 0.6 m, m=2 L L 100 pH M P M 2 2.4 m / 0.6 m, m=2 or 18 R P 100 mohm M P C 1 M P C 4 2.4 m / 0.6 m, m=4 L P 2 nH M P C 5 M P C 6 2.4 m / 0.6 m, m=1 V r ef 0.5 V M N C 1 M N C 4 1.2 m / 0.6 m, m=4 I B I AS C O M P 250 nA M N C 5 M N C 6 1.2 m / 0.6 m, m=1 M N C 7 M N C 8 1.2 m / 0.6 m, m=3 5. SIMULA TION RESUL TS The proposed circuit has been e v aluated by using SPICE sim ulator with 1P 2M 0.6 m CMOS process de vice parameters. The nominal conditions are V D D = 2 : 0 V , 27 C and OUTSEL[1:0]=(11) 2 and PMSEL=(0) 2 . Figure 6 sho ws the typical w a v eforms when the load current is changed from 10 A to 50 A, and the operation mode is also changed from lo w po wer mode to lo w ripple mode at 0.6 msec simultaneously . The output w a v eform sho ws no ringing and o v ershoots other than the switching ripple. The of fset v oltage of V out between tw o modes is enough small as 3.5 mV . Figure 7 sho ws the load re gulation and po wer supply v oltage dependence at nominal condition. From Figure 7 (a), the load re gulation is less than 1 mV under the condition that the range of I l oad is 0 A to 50 A. The line re gulation is about 10.3 mV/V (0.57 % /V) under the condition that I l oad is 50 A and V D D is from 1.9 V to 2.2 V . The quiescent current I D D is about 1 A from Figure 7 (b). W e can also confirm that the maximum v out and minimum F cy cl e (=1/ T cy cl e ) are 5.2 mV and 19 kHz, respecti v ely from Figures 7 (c) and (d). From Figure 7 (e), we could confirm that the duty ratio increases with increasing of I l oad . The current ef ficienc y is also increase with increasing of I l oad from Figure 7(f). The PVT v ariations of fundamental perform ances are sho wn in Figures 8(a) to (f). The e v aluated corner conditions are TT (typical NMOS and PMOS), SS (slo w NMOS and slo w PMOS) and FF (f ast NMOS and f ast PMOS). V D D and temperature ranges are from 1.9 V to 2.2 V and from –20 C to 95 C, respecti v ely . This results sho w rea sonable performance with satisfying the design specification sho wn in T able 2. Figure 8 depicts PVT v ariation of load re gulation and supply v oltage dependence. Figure 6. T ypical transient w a v eform. Pr oposal and design methodolo gy of switc hing mode low dr opout... (K enya K ondo) Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.