阅读说明：本技术 亚带隙补偿参考电压生成电路 (Sub-band gap compensation reference voltage generation circuit ) 是由 P·K·潘加 G·D·凯南格 于 2019-09-04 设计创作，主要内容包括：本公开的实施例涉及亚带隙补偿参考电压生成电路。亚带隙参考电压生成器包括生成参考电流(与绝对温度成比例)的参考电流生成器、从参考电流生成输入电压(与绝对温度成比例)的电压生成器、以及差分放大器。差分放大器由参考电流偏置,并且具有接收输入电压的输入和生成与绝对温度成比例的电压的电阻器,该电压与输入电压相加以产生温度不敏感输出参考电压。参考电流生成器可以生成参考电流作为第一和第二晶体管的偏置电压之间的差的函数。通过施加与绝对温度成比例的电流经过在第二晶体管的偏置电压和地之间串联耦合的多个晶体管,并且在多个晶体管中给定的相邻晶体管之间分接节点,电压生成器可以生成输入电压。(Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to sub-bandgap compensated reference voltage generation circuits. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator includes a reference current generator that generates a reference current (proportional to absolute temperature), a voltage generator that generates an input voltage (proportional to absolute temperature) from the reference current, and a differential amplifier. The differential amplifier is biased by a reference current and has an input receiving an input voltage and a resistor generating a proportional to absolute temperature voltage that is added to the input voltage to produce a temperature insensitive output reference voltage. The reference current generator may generate the reference current as a function of a difference between the bias voltages of the first and second transistors. The voltage generator may generate the input voltage by applying a current proportional to absolute temperature through a plurality of transistors coupled in series between a bias voltage of the second transistor and ground, and tapping a node between given adjacent ones of the plurality of transistors.)

1. A circuit, comprising:

a reference current generator circuit configured to generate a reference current proportional to absolute temperature;

a voltage generator configured to generate an input voltage from the reference current, wherein the input voltage is complementary to absolute temperature; and

a differential amplifier biased by a current derived from the reference current and having an input configured to receive the input voltage, and including a resistor configured to generate a proportional to absolute temperature voltage that is summed with the input voltage complementary to absolute temperature to produce a temperature insensitive output reference voltage.

2. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the reference current generator circuit generates the reference current as a function of a difference between bias voltages of the first and second transistors.

3. The circuit of claim 2, wherein the voltage generator generates the input voltage by applying the reference current proportional to absolute temperature through a plurality of transistors coupled in series between a bias voltage of the second transistor and ground, wherein the input voltage complementary to absolute temperature is generated at a node between given adjacent transistors of the plurality of transistors.

4. The circuit of claim 3, wherein the plurality of transistors comprises a plurality of diode-connected field effect transistors.

5. The circuit of claim 4, wherein the plurality of transistors includes a transistor that mirrors the reference current to the plurality of diode-connected field effect transistors; and wherein the input voltage is generated at a tap between the transistor and the plurality of diode-connected field effect transistors.

6. The circuit of claim 5, wherein the reference current generator circuit generates the reference current as a function of a difference between base-emitter voltages of a first bipolar junction transistor and a second bipolar junction transistor.

7. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the differential amplifier comprises a first branch and a second branch, the first and second branches being balanced and biased by a current dependent on the reference current, thereby generating a voltage proportional to absolute temperature.

8. The circuit of claim 7, wherein:

the differential amplifier receiving the input voltage from the voltage generator at an input and reproducing the input voltage at an output;

the resistor has a first terminal for receiving the current derived from the reference current and a second terminal coupled to the output of the differential amplifier;

a voltage between the first terminal and the second terminal of the resistor is the proportional to absolute temperature voltage; and

the voltage at the first terminal of the resistor is the temperature insensitive output reference voltage.

9. A sub-bandgap reference voltage generator comprising:

a first circuit configured to generate a current proportional to absolute temperature as a function of a difference between base-emitter voltages of the first and second bipolar junction transistors;

a second circuit configured to generate a complementary-to-absolute-temperature voltage at a node between given adjacent ones of a plurality of field effect transistors by applying a proportional-to-absolute-temperature current through the plurality of field effect transistors coupled in series between the base-emitter voltage of the second bipolar junction transistor and ground; and

a third circuit configured to generate a sub-bandgap reference voltage by using the current proportional to absolute temperature, to bias a unity gain amplifier receiving the voltage complementary to absolute temperature as an input, to generate a voltage proportional to absolute temperature, and to add the voltage proportional to absolute temperature and the voltage complementary to absolute temperature.

10. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 9, wherein:

the second circuit comprises a first field effect transistor coupled to the first circuit and configured to mirror the proportional to absolute temperature current to the plurality of field effect transistors; and is

Wherein a first field effect transistor of the plurality of field effect transistors has a drain coupled to receive the proportional to absolute temperature current from the first field effect transistor and a gate biased by the base-emitter voltage of the second bipolar junction transistor.

11. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 10, wherein:

a second field effect transistor of the plurality of field effect transistors having a drain coupled to the source of the first field effect transistor of the plurality of field effect transistors and a gate coupled to the drain of the second field effect transistor; and

the tap node is located between a source of the first one of the plurality of field effect transistors and a drain of the second one of the plurality of field effect transistors.

12. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 11, wherein a third field effect transistor of the plurality of field effect transistors has a drain coupled to a source of the second field effect transistor of the plurality of field effect transistors, a source coupled to ground, and a gate coupled to a drain of the third field effect transistor.

13. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 12, wherein the second circuit further comprises a diode-coupled field effect transistor coupled between a power supply node and the first field effect transistor.

14. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 13, wherein:

the first bipolar junction transistor has a collector and a base coupled to ground;

the second bipolar junction transistor has a collector and a base coupled to ground; and

the first circuit includes:

a first PMOS transistor having a source coupled to the power supply node, a drain, and a gate coupled to the drain of the first PMOS transistor;

a second PMOS transistor having a source coupled to the power supply node, a drain, and a gate coupled to the gate of the first PMOS transistor;

a first NMOS transistor having a drain coupled to the drain of the first PMOS transistor, a source, and a gate;

a second NMOS transistor having a drain coupled to the drain of the second PMOS transistor, a source coupled to the emitter of the second bipolar junction transistor, and a gate coupled to the drain of the second NMOS transistor and the gate of the first NMOS transistor; and

a resistor coupled between the source of the first NMOS transistor and the emitter of the first bipolar junction transistor.

15. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 14, wherein a first field effect transistor of the second circuit has a gate coupled to the gates of the first and second NMOS transistors; and wherein a gate of the first field effect transistor of the plurality of field effect transistors is coupled to the source of the second NMOS transistor and the emitter of the second bipolar junction transistor.

16. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 9, wherein the unity gain amplifier comprises a first branch and a second branch, the first and second branches being balanced and biased by a current dependent on the proportional to absolute voltage current, thereby reproducing the proportional to absolute temperature voltage.

17. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 9, wherein the unity gain amplifier comprises:

a first branch having:

a first transistor having a first conductive terminal coupled to a power supply node, a second conductive terminal, and a control terminal coupled to the second conductive terminal of the first transistor;

a second transistor having a first conductive terminal coupled to the second conductive terminal of the first transistor, a control terminal coupled to the first conductive terminal of the second transistor, and a second conductive terminal;

a third transistor having a control terminal biased by the complementary to absolute temperature voltage, a first conduction terminal, and a second conduction terminal coupled to a tail current source; and

a resistor coupled between the second conductive terminal of the second transistor and the first conductive terminal of the third transistor.

18. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 17,

wherein the unity gain amplifier further comprises a second branch having:

a first transistor having a first conductive terminal coupled to a power supply node, a second conductive terminal, and a control terminal coupled to a control terminal of the first branch;

a second transistor having a first conductive terminal coupled to the second conductive terminal of the first transistor of the second branch, a control terminal coupled to the first conductive terminal of the second transistor of the second branch, and a second conductive terminal;

a third transistor having a first conduction terminal, a control terminal coupled to the first conduction terminal of the third transistor of the second branch, and a second conduction terminal coupled to the tail current source; and

a resistor coupled between a second conductive terminal of a second transistor of the second branch and a first conductive terminal of a third transistor of the second branch;

wherein the tail current source is configured to draw twice the proportional to absolute temperature current;

wherein the first and second branches are balanced such that the effect of the tail current source drawing twice the proportional to absolute temperature current is to draw the proportional to absolute temperature current through each of the first and second branches;

wherein the proportional to absolute temperature current flowing through the resistor of the second branch generates the proportional to absolute temperature voltage;

wherein a first conduction terminal of a third transistor of the second branch forms an output of the unity gain amplifier reproducing the voltage complementary to absolute temperature; and is

Wherein the sub-bandgap reference voltage is generated at a second conductive terminal of a second transistor of the second branch.

19. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 18, wherein the tail current source comprises 2: 1 a current mirror configured to receive the proportional to absolute temperature current as an input and to draw twice the proportional to absolute temperature current as an output.

20. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 9, further comprising a fourth circuit configured to generate a regulated voltage from the sub-bandgap reference voltage.

21. The sub-bandgap reference voltage generator of claim 20, wherein the fourth circuit comprises a super source follower coupled between a first current source and a second current source and configured to receive the sub-bandgap reference voltage as an input.

22. A method, comprising:

generating a reference current proportional to absolute temperature;

generating an input voltage from the reference current, the input voltage being complementary to absolute temperature; and is

A proportional to absolute temperature voltage is generated that is added to the input voltage to generate a temperature insensitive output reference voltage.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the reference current is generated as a function of a difference between a first transistor bias voltage and a second transistor bias voltage.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein generating the input voltage comprises applying the reference current through a plurality of transistors coupled in series between the second transistor bias voltage and ground to generate an input voltage at a node between given adjacent transistors of the plurality of transistors.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein generating the input voltage further comprises mirroring the reference current from a mirror transistor of the plurality of transistors to a plurality of diode-coupled field effect transistors of the plurality of transistors such that the input voltage is produced at a node coupled to a drain of one of the plurality of diode-coupled field effect transistors.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the reference current is generated as a function of a difference between a base-emitter voltage of a first bipolar junction transistor and a base-emitter voltage of a second bipolar junction transistor.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of temperature independent reference voltage generation, and in particular to a circuit for generating a temperature independent reference voltage that is part of a generated bandgap voltage.

Background

Integrated circuit technology does not provide an essentially constant reference voltage regardless of temperature variations. Therefore, a practical approach is to generate a temperature-independent reference voltage by combining two voltages having precisely complementary temperature characteristics. By adding a voltage that increases with temperature (e.g., proportional to absolute temperature) to a voltage that decreases with temperature (e.g., complementary to absolute temperature), the result will be a temperature independent voltage as long as the slopes of these voltages are equal in magnitude but opposite in sign.

A common circuit for generating such a temperature independent reference voltage is known as a "bandgap voltage generator" which typically has an output voltage of about 1.25V (which approaches a silicon bandgap of theoretically 1.22eV at 0K, hence the name "bandgap voltage" generator).

However, in some cases, it may be desirable to generate a temperature independent reference voltage that is only a portion of the bandgap voltage. This may be referred to as a sub-bandgap reference voltage.

For example, a known sub-Bandgap Reference voltage generator is described in "Low-power Low-voltage Bandgap Reference in CMOS (a Low-power Low-voltage Bandgap Reference in CMOS" by n.sun and r.sobot, which is published in electronic and Computer Engineering (Electrical and Computer Engineering) 2010, canadian conference 23, 5/2010. The design generates the sub-bandgap reference voltage using compensation current generation that is Proportional To Absolute Temperature (PTAT) and implemented in parallel with a component of absolute temperature Complementarity (CTAT). However, this design may suffer from achieving stability at device start-up and, in some cases, the resulting sub-bandgap reference voltage may vary slightly.

Another known sub-bandgap reference voltage generator is described in "simple CMOS bandgap reference circuit with below 1V operation (a single CMOS bandgap reference circuit with 1V operation)" by Joao navaro and Eder Ishibe, which is published in Circuits and Systems of the IEEE International seminar 2011 (Circuits and Systems, IEEE International Symposium). The design generates a sub-bandgap reference voltage by summing the PTAT and CTAT currents using a known voltage difference across a resistor. However, the resulting sub-bandgap reference voltage is affected by resistor process variations and resistor resistance variations with respect to temperature.

Another known sub-bandgap reference voltage generator is described in "Low power bandgap voltage reference for Low-drop voltage Regulator" by c.l.lee, r.m.sidek, f.z.rokhani and n.sulaiman, published in Micro and Nanoelectronics 2015 (IEEE RegionSymphosis) of the IEEE area seminar in 2015. The design generates a sub-bandgap reference voltage between two series-connected resistors at the middle branch of its output stage. Since the resistors are subject to process variations and resistance variations with respect to temperature, the resulting sub-bandgap reference voltage is subject to these variations.

Therefore, there is still a need for further developments in the field of sub-bandgap reference voltage generators.

Disclosure of Invention

A first aspect disclosed herein is a circuit that includes a reference current generator, a voltage generator, and a differential amplifier. The reference current generator is configured to generate a reference current proportional to absolute temperature. The voltage generator is configured to generate an input voltage from the reference current, wherein the input voltage is complementary to the absolute temperature. The differential amplifier is biased by a current derived from a reference current and has an input configured to receive an input voltage. The differential amplifier is configured to generate a proportional to absolute temperature voltage that is summed with an input voltage that is complementary to absolute temperature, thereby producing a temperature insensitive output reference voltage.

A second aspect disclosed herein is a sub-bandgap reference voltage generator that includes first, second and third circuits. The first circuit is configured to generate a current proportional to absolute temperature as a function of a difference between base-emitter voltages of the first and second bipolar junction transistors. The second circuit is configured to generate a voltage complementary to absolute temperature by applying a current proportional to absolute temperature through a plurality of field effect transistors coupled in series between a base-emitter voltage of the second bipolar junction transistor and ground, thereby generating the voltage complementary to absolute temperature at a node between given adjacent ones of the plurality of field effect transistors. The third circuit is configured to generate a sub-bandgap reference voltage by using a current proportional to absolute temperature, to bias a unity gain amplifier receiving a voltage complementary to absolute temperature as an input, to generate a voltage proportional to absolute temperature, and to add the voltage proportional to absolute temperature and the voltage complementary to absolute temperature.

A method aspect disclosed herein includes generating a reference current proportional to absolute temperature and generating an input voltage from the reference current, wherein the input voltage is complementary to absolute temperature. The method also includes generating a proportional to absolute temperature voltage that is added to the input voltage to produce a temperature insensitive output reference voltage.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a detailed schematic diagram of a sub-bandgap reference voltage generator according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a detailed schematic diagram of one additional embodiment of a sub-bandgap reference voltage generator combined with a super source follower to generate a voltage regulator in accordance with the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The following disclosure enables one skilled in the art to make and use the technical solutions disclosed herein. The general principles described herein may be applied to embodiments and applications other than those detailed above without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed or suggested herein.

A sub-bandgap reference voltage (Vref) generator will now be described with reference to figure 1. For ease of explanation and understanding, the Vref generator will be described in terms of three constituent circuit blocks 12, 14, and 16. Block 12 is responsible for generating a current Iptat proportional to absolute temperature, while block 14 is responsible for generating a voltage Vctat complementary to absolute temperature, which in turn is used to control a differential amplifier 18 within block 16 to generate Vref.

In detail, the block 12 is a constant transconductance circuit, with PMOS transistors P1 and P2 arranged as a current mirror, with the sources of the PMOS transistors P1 and P2 coupled to the power supply node VDD, and the gates of the PMOS transistors P1 and P2 coupled to the drain of the PMOS transistor P1. NMOS transistors N1 and N2 are also arranged as a current mirror, with the drain of NMOS transistor N1 coupled to the drain of PMOS transistor P1, the drain of NMOS transistor N2 coupled to the drain of PMOS transistor P2, and the gates N1 and N2 of NMOS transistors coupled to the drain of NMOS transistor N2. The source of NMOS transistor N1 is coupled to the emitter of diode-coupled PNP transistor QP1 through resistor R1, while the source of NMOS transistor N2 is directly coupled to the emitter of diode-coupled PNP transistor QP 2.

Once operating in steady state, the current mirror formed by PMOS transistors P1 and P2 forces the drain currents of NMOS transistors N1 and N2 to be equal, and thus the gate-source voltages Vgs at NMOS transistors N1 and N2 to be equal. This causes the base-emitter voltage Vbe2 of PNP transistor QP2 to be applied at the source of NMOS transistor N1. Since resistor R1 is between voltages Vbe2 and Vbe1 (the base-emitter voltage of PNP transistor QP 1), the voltage across resistor R1 is Vbe2-Vbe1, which may be referred to as Δ Vbe. The resulting current Iptat applied through resistor R1 is proportional to absolute temperature and flows into PNP transistor QP2 due to the current mirror formed by NMOS transistors N1 and N2. Iptat may be calculated as:

Iptat＝ΔVbe/R1

the block 14 is made up of a single branch and includes a diode-coupled PMOS transistor P3, the source of which is coupled to the supply node Vdd and the gate of which is coupled to the drain thereof. The drain of NMOS transistor N3 is coupled to the drain of PMOS transistor P3, and its gate is coupled in current mirror relationship to the gates of NMOS transistors N1 and N2. The gate of NMOS transistor N4 is coupled to the source of NMOS transistor N2, and is therefore biased by voltage Vbe 2. The drain of NMOS transistor N4 is coupled to the source of NMOS transistor N3.

NMOS transistors N5 and N6 are diode connected. Specifically, the drain of NMOS transistor N5 is coupled to the source of NMOS transistor N4, and its gate is coupled to its drain. The drain of NMOS transistor N6 is coupled to the source of NMOS transistor N5, its gate is coupled to its drain, and its source is coupled to ground.

In operation, the source of NMOS transistor N3 is approximately equal to the source of NMOS transistor N2, which results in the drain voltage of NMOS transistor N4 being approximately Vbe2, which is noted to be the gate voltage of NMOS transistor N4. Since NMOS transistors N4, N5, and N6 all carry the same current, the gate-to-source voltages (Vgs) of NMOS transistors N4, N5, and N6 will be the same.

Since the voltage from the gate of NMOS transistor N4 to the source of NMOS transistor N6 (which is grounded) is Vbe2, and since the Vgs of each NMOS transistor N4, N5 and N6 is the same, the voltage from the drain of NMOS transistor N5 to ground will be 2Vbe2/3, which is a voltage complementary to absolute temperature and may be referred to as Vctat. The purpose of using block 14 to generate Vctat, as opposed to a resistive divider, is to avoid loading the components of block 12.

The block 16 includes a PMOS transistor P4 having a source coupled to the power supply node VDD and a gate coupled to the gates of the PMOS transistors P1 and P2 in a current mirror relationship. Block 16 also includes a current mirror formed by NMOS transistors N7 and N12. The drain of NMOS transistor N7 is coupled to its gate and the drain of PMOS transistor P4, and the source of NMOS transistor N7 is coupled to ground.

The block 16 also includes a differential amplifier 18 in a unity gain configuration. The differential amplifier 18 includes PMOS load transistors P5 and P6, diode-coupled NMOS transistors N8 and N10, two resistors R2, NMOS differential input transistors N9 and N11, and a tail current source formed by NMOS transistor N12.

In more detail, the gate of NMOS transistor N12 is coupled to the gate and drain of NMOS transistor N7, and its source is coupled to ground. The sources of PMOS transistors P5 and P6 are coupled to the power supply node VDD, and their gates are coupled to each other. The drain of PMOS transistor P5 is coupled to its gate. The drain of NMOS transistor N8 is coupled to the drain of PMOS transistor P5, and its gate is coupled to its drain. Resistor R2 is coupled between the source of NMOS transistor N8 and the drain of NMOS transistor N9. The gate of NMOS transistor N9 is biased by Vctat, and its source is coupled to the drain of NMOS transistor N12. The drain of NMOS transistor N10 is coupled to the drain of PMOS transistor P6, and its gate is coupled to its drain. Another resistor R2 (also denoted as R2 to show that the two resistors have the same resistance) is coupled between the source of NMOS transistor N10 and the drain of NMOS transistor N11. The gate of NMOS transistor N11 is coupled to its drain, and its source is coupled to the drain of NMOS transistor N12.

In operation, since PMOS transistor P4 is in a current mirror relationship with PMOS transistors P1 and P2, it emits a current Iptat from its drain. The current mirror formed by NMOS transistors N7 and N12 receives as input the current Iptat from PMOS transistor P4, and since 2: 1, a current 2 × Iptat is drawn from the tail of the differential amplifier 18. Since the left and right branches of the differential amplifier 18 are balanced, this means that a current Iptat flows through each branch. Thus, Iptat is applied across two resistors R2, generating a voltage Vptat that is proportional to absolute temperature. Vptat can be calculated as:

Vptat＝Iptat*R2

since the differential amplifier 18 is in a unity gain configuration, its output (at the drain of NMOS transistor N11) is coupled to its inverting input (the gate of NMOS transistor N11), thus producing a voltage Vctat at the drain of NMOS transistor N11. By adding the voltage Vctat to the voltage Vptat, the temperature dependency is cancelled out, and a sub-bandgap voltage Vref is generated. Mathematically, it may be noted that Vptat may be expressed by (Δ Vbe/R1) × R2 by substitution, since Vptat equals Iptat × R2 and since Iptat equals Δ Vbe/R1, and thus:

Vptat＝(R2/R1)*ΔVbe

note that since Vctat is 2Vbe2/3, Vref can be calculated as:

Vref＝2Vbe2/3+R2/R1ΔVbe

note that the diode-coupled NMOS transistors N8 and N10 are used to provide sufficient margin between Vref and VDD so that the current mirror formed by PMOS transistors P5 and P6 operates properly.

With additional reference to fig. 2, a source follower circuit 20 may be used to generate a regulator voltage Vreg from a reference voltage Vref. The blocks 12, 14, 16 and 18 shown in fig. 2 are the same as in fig. 1 and need no further description, so the following will focus on the source follower circuit 20.

The source follower circuit 20 includes a PMOS transistor P7 having its source coupled to the power supply node VDD and its gate coupled to the gates of PMOS transistors P5 and P6 in a current mirror relationship. PMOS transistor P8 has a source coupled to the power supply node VDD and a gate coupled to the drain of PMOS transistor P7. The drain of NMOS transistor N13 is coupled to the gate of PMOS transistor P8, forming a super source follower. NMOS transistor N14 has a drain coupled to the source of NMOS transistor N13, a source coupled to ground, and a gate coupled to the gates of NMOS transistors N7 and N12 in a current mirror relationship. This generates the regulation voltage Vreg at the source of the NMOS transistor N13 and the drain of the PMOS transistor P8.

The regulated voltage can be calculated as follows:

Vreg＝Vref+(VgsN10-VgsN13)

advantages provided by the Vref generator include low voltage headroom requirements, and easy scaling of Vref. For example, Vref may be scaled by changing the number of diode-coupled NMOS transistors in block 14, since two such transistors are used as shown to set the ratio of 2/3 as described above. Other numbers will yield different ratios. Vref can also be scaled by changing the ratio of R2 to R1. Furthermore, the components of the Vref generator may be low current components.

While the present disclosure has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the disclosure as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the disclosure is to be limited only by the following claims.