IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 37, NO.

9, SFPTEMBER 1990 1077

Power Supply Rejection Ratio in

Operational Transconductance Amplifiers

Abstract -The power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of operational VIN.-m-$Frn

amplifiers is analyzed. An analyzing technique based on cuts in suhcir-
cuits is presented that allows hand calculation of PSRR of any circuit.
In this paper it is shown that the PSRR of the single stage operational
amplifier (OTA) has an order of magnitude better PSRR than the vPOWER
commonly used Miller OTA. The analyses are compared with hand Fig. 1. block diagram of a general electrical circuit.
calculations and SPICE level-2 simulations on a realized improved
Miller OTA structure.
GBW/s in order to be able to compare different ampli-
fier structures. This normalization results in the parame-
I. INTRODUCTION ter l / A p ( s l :i.e., the reciprocal of the power supply gain
(PSR, as distinct from PSRR). Secondly, a technique to
T H E DESIGN of complex systems with analog, digital,
and switched-capacitor building blocks integrated on
one chip suffers from large signal variations on the power
calculate the PSRR is discussed. Using this technique,
several op-amps, such as an OTA and a Miller op-amp,
supply lines (up to 100 mVpeak[l])that are introduced by are analyzed. Finally, an improved two-stage amplifier is
the digital and the switched-capacitor networks. studied and analyzed.
Especially in those cases where low-level signals have to DEFINITION
OF THE PSRR
be measured, the use and development of high perfor-
mance amplifiers are necessary. In analog building blocks A general electrical circuit as presented in Fig. 1 has an
and switched-capacitor structures, the main building input, an output, and a power node. Hence it has voltage
blocks are operational transconductance amplifiers transfer functions from any node to any other node. In
(OTA's). For this reason the performance of such ampli- many cases, only the transfer function from the input to
fiers must be studied and analyzed as function of the the output and from the power node to the output node
power supply variations. The power supply rejection ratio are important. If the transfer function of the power node
(PSRR) is very often only specified at dc or at very low to the output node is called the power supply gain ( A p ) ,
frequencies ( f 1 Hz). In order to reduce the influences and the transfer function of the input node to the output
of 50/60 Hz clock-frequencies and high frequency power node is called the open-loop transfer function ( A ) , the
supply noise, the performance at frequencies up to the PSRR is defined as (in the frequency domain s
bandwidth of the system, which is for amplifiers the gain
bandwidth (GBW), must be studied. This is especially
important in aliasing (sampled data) contexts where high
frequency power ~ ~ p pnoise
l y can be folded back into the which is normally given in decibels 20.log(A / A p ) ) .
signal band. This effect can drastically decrease the PSRR By increasing the GBW of an amplifier, A b ) increases
performance, as has been demonstrated in switched- ( A h ) 2..sr.GBW/s for f > fdominant), and as a result the
capacitor filters [ll. PSRR increases, too. Thus to compare different amplifier
The performance of a system influenced by power- structures, the PSRR can be best normalized to 2 . 7 ~
supply variations can be described by the PSRR. In the GBW/s. From the definition, this results in the parame-
next section the definition of the PSRR is described. ter l / A p ( s ) ,i.e., the reciprocal of the power supply gain.
From this definition it can be concluded that for ampli- In this text this parameter is called the PSR. If both
fiers, the PSRR at high frequencies do f GBW) functions ( A ( s ) and PSRR(s)) are assumed to be first-
can be improved by increasing the GBW of the amplifier. order, the PSR at high frequencies is a constant (see Fig.
Therefore, the PSRR can be best normalized to 2 . T . 2). The smaller A,(s) is (or the higher the PSR is), the
better the structure performance is.
Manuscript received August 19. 1987; revised February 6, 1989. This
The equivalent mathematical equation for the output
paper was recommended by Associate Editor C . A. T. Salama. node as function of the input and of the power supply
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, node is described by the superposition of the power
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3030 Heverlee. Belgium.
IEEE Log Number 9037126. supply gain and the open-loop gain, or uOut A;u,

0098-4094/90/0900-1077$01.00 01990 IEEE

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1078 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 37, NO. SEPTEMBER. 1990

or
U , = - . RI
[(-+ R2 1 1
i RI
R2 PSRRl PSRR2-Al
P2
or if A1 1, the PSRR of this system is approximately
equal to the PSRR of the first stage. At high frequencies
Fig. 2. Bode dia ram of the o en loop gain ( A h ) ) , the power supply the gain of amplifiers usually decreases. So if PSRR2
rejection ratio &SRR(s)) a n 8 thk PSR: the reciprocal of the power
supply gain (AJs)). PSRR1, the PSRR of the system can be dominated by the
second stage. A two-stage Miller amplifier, which is dis-
Mw A cussed later, is one example of this effect.
PSRR(s) In this paper, a method to calculate the PSRR of
subcircuits is studied. Since in complex analog systems the
subcircuits are amplifiers, different amplifier structures
up to a frequency range equal to their GBW are analyzed
and compared.
IV. THEPSRR OF A SUBCIRCUIT
In a MOS transistor circuit, the voltage transfer func-
tions are always realized by a transconductance of a
Fig. 3. A block diagram of a two-stage amplifier. transistor) and an admittance. For example, the gain of
an OTA is given by
Aav,. If the system has different power supplies (e.g., an gm
A( (4)
OTA has a positive ( V D D ) and a negative (Vss) power go s*c1
supply), a power supply gain for each power node can be
defined separately. In this case A,,vdd ( A p , is called In fact, a MOS transistor converts this input gate-source
the transfer function from the V,, (Vss) node to the voltage into a current. At the gain node (and there is only
output node, whereby the Vss (V,,) is ac-grounded. On one gain node, otherwise it can be divided in two subcir-
the basis of the knowledge of these transfer functions, the cuits as is presented in Fig. 3), this current is converted
PSRR of each power supply can be defined as into a voltage by the admittance at that node. The power
supply variation also introduces in that circuit a current
A A or there exists a power supply transconductance: GM,.
PSRR, Udd and PSRR, U,, (2) This introduced current is converted into a voltage at that
Udd A , U,,
same gain node as for the signal transfer function. As a
result, the denominator of the voltage transfer functions
111. PSRR ON CIRCUIT LEVEL A J s ) and A ( s ) are equal to each other and hence the
In order to be able to calculate the PSRR of the total PSRR is given by the ratio of the signal transconductance
system, the system can be divided into subcircuits or into ( G M ) and the power supply transconductance (GM,) or
a block diagram, using control-system theory. In Fig. 3, an
example of a multistage amplifier with a resistance feed- (5)
back network is shown. The subcircuits in the figure must
not contain feedback loops and the characteristics of the
different subcircuits must not be influenced by each other. In order to find the power supply transconductance of the
In some cases it is necessary to use the input impedance internal nodes of the circuit, the following technique is
of the next stage in the subcircuit, e.g., the load capaci- used.
tance of an OTA. Once the system is split, the different The power supply under study is enclosed by a curve,
subcircuits can be separately calculated and evaluated. As whereby this curve cuts only once every branch coming
an example, the circuit in Fig. 3 can be split into two from that power supply. The gain node is connected to
subcircuits without any feedback loop. The PSRR of the ac-ground. As a result, the current flow into the gain
these subcircuits ( A , / A p l and A , / A p 2 )being known, it node due to the input-output transfer path can be calcu-
is possible to calculate the PSRR of the total system. The lated separately from the one due to any impedance
output ( U , ) of the system shown is given by between the gain node and any power supply line. The
following are properties of this technique.
4 2 A241
U, 1) For every cut, each branch is divided in two cutsides.
1 A2*A1-R2 R, R2) There is always at one cutside a current transfer function
to the gain node. The current transfer function is given by
Al.A2
the ratio of the current that flows into the gain node (into
1 A 2 * A , . R 2 R , R , ) *'in the ac-ground because the gain node is ac-grounded) and

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STEYAERT AND \ANSEN' PSKK OTA'S 1079

TABLE
HANDCALCULAT~ONS
AND SPICE SIMULATIONS
ON AN OTA

OTA small signal spec's out of SPICE level

gm 4.7 4.65 3.5 3.5 3 PA/Y

8.4 8.6 14 14.6 7.2 nA/Y
CP 191 191 64 71 93 fF

PSRR,
I
low-freq. 77dB 76dB
f-3dB 12kHz 9kHz
Fig 4 Curves C1 and C2 for cdlculating the power supply PSR 53dB
transconductance 49dB
PSRR,vss
low-freq. 47dB 47dB
the current that is applied to that cutside. If there is no f-3dB 2lkHz 2OkHz
P SR 28dB 27dB
current transfer function for either of the cutsides, then
the PSRR of the subcircuits is not influenced by that
branch. However, in both cases C,, is the capacitance between
2) If there exists a current transfer function for one of that node and the positive power supply rail.
the cutsides, the power supply transconductance to the Equation (6) can be simplified if the current mirrors
gain node is given by the admittance seen into the other used have a current gain factor of one
cutside ( y , ) , multiplied by the ratio y 1 / ( y l y , ) (with y 1 g m 5 , gm, g m 6 ) , and if the contribution of cuts b and c is
the admittance seen into the cutside where there exists a neglected (sol go,, CPl C,,>, to
current transfer function), and multiplied by the current
transfer function (or current gain). This product gives the (7)
contribution of that branch to the PSRR in the subcircuit. This last assumption means that the two sides of the input
The summation of the power supply transconductances of stage balance. As a result, the vdd signal appears on
each branch results in the total power supply transcon- nodes b and as a common mode signal and is as a result
ductance of the subcircuit. In a normal circuit design the rejected in the circuit.
ratio y , / y , is much smaller than 1 ( y l /(yl y 2 ) 1, The signal transconductance of this amplifier is given
which is further assumed in this text). Because the PSRR by (gml So the PSRR is given by
is given by the ratio of the signal transconductance and (using relationships 5 and 7)
the power supply transconductance (5), a high PSRR can
be obtained by designing the admittance y , as small as
possible. This means also that the ratio of the impedances
on both cutsides must be made as high as possible.
Analyzing the PSRR of the V,,, curve C2 in Fig. 4 is
As an example, the PSRR of an OTA is analyzed. The used. The contribution of each branch in the transcon-
structure is presented in Fig. 4. First the PSRR, cdd is ductances is calculated and results in io,, Vss)
studied. Therefore the power supply is enclosed by curve
C1. Let us now discuss cut For this cut there exists a
current transfer function to the gain node at the cutside
of transistor M 8 : g m 7 / g m X .So the contribution of this
branch to the power supply transconductance is given by
the product of g m 7 / g I n xand the admittance seen into the It has to be remarked that in this case mismatches in the
other cutside. In this example, this is the admittance seen transconductances of the input transistors ( g m l and
into the drain of M,: go, s.C,,. Hence the contribution have been included in the calculations. As can be seen
of this branch is ( g o , The same can they can decrease the PSRR. If g,, g,, (assuming that
be done for the other cuts, which results in a total GM, the input stage balances), the PSRR, uSs can be simpli-
io,, ~ given by 3 ~ ~ )
fied, resulting in

In Table I the relationships of the PSRR,udd and

PSRR, are compared with SPICE level 2 simulations
and they fit very well.
with C, the drain-gate plus the drain-bulk capacitance From this example it can be concluded that a high
of the transistors. For the case C,,, (cut this C,, is a PSRR, cdd can be realized by designing a very symmetrical
drain-substrate capacitance if a p-well process is used. In OTA. On the other hand, the phase of the PSRR, c~~ can
the case of an n-well, is a drain-well capacitance. be at low frequencies (0" or 180") depending on the

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 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 37, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER. 1990

TABLE I1
HANDCALCULATIONS
AND SPICE SIMULATIONS
INPUT STAGEWITH
ON A SOURCE-COUPLED
P ACTIVELOAD
c1
:$zkinM.." OTA small signal s p e c ' s out o f SPICE l e v e l 2

4.63 4.60 3.5 3.5 6.7 PA/'?

0.5 9.3 15 14 22.0 nA/V
CP 191 220 80 74 779 fF

PSRR,Vdd
Fig. 5. A source-coupled input stage with active l o a d . low-freq. 46dB 46 dB
f-3dB 14kHz 14kHz
P SR 23dB 23dB
mismatch in the output conductance ( g o )of transistor M 6
and M5. Also the pole of the PSRR transfer function can PSRR .vss
low-freq. 91dB 90dB
be situated in the left- or right-half plane, depending on f-3dB 4.6kHz 5kHz
which parasitic capacitance is the largest. For the PSR 58dB 58dB
PSRR,u,, it can be concluded that the output conduc-
tance and the sum of the drain-gate and the
drain-bulk capacitances of transistors M5, M 6 , and M 7 parasitic capacitances (if the cascode transistors have the
have to be made very small in order to realize a high same dimensions as the drive transistors). Hence only the
PSRR,v,,. low frequency PSRR,udd can be improved by using cas-
code transistors, but the high frequency PSRR, vdd
V. COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT dB GBW) will not be improved at all.
AMPLIFIER STRUCTURES The PSRR,u,, can be calculated similar to the input
A. The Source-Coupled Input Stage with Active Load stage of an OTA (see (9)), which results in a PSRR, U,, of
gm 1
A commonly used input stage of an amplifier is a PSRR, U,, gm1 gm2
source-coupled differential pair with an active load, as (go9 s.c,9).
presented in Fig. 5. Studying the PSRR,udd, cut C1 is gm1+ gm2
used. It is clear that go, introduces a current with the In Table 11, the hand calculations are compared with the
value g o 4 ' u d d . On the other hand, go, (via cut a ) intro- SPICE level-2 simulations. However, it has to be re-
duces a current into the common mode node V, with a marked that in this case the transistors are designed in a
value gol'udd.This current can only flow into the sources separated p-well no bulk effect). The capacitance
of M1 and M 2 . It means that one half of that current is, however, the total capacitance well-substrate of M1
flows into the output node via the source of M 2 and the and M 2 plus drain-substrate of M 9 . So in this case the
other half via the current mirror M 3 and M4. The total PSRR is mainly affected by the well-substrate capaci-
current (iddl introduced by a variation on the udd in the tance of the input devices. If the structure is designed in
gain node is then given by an n-well process, the input transistors can not be de-
signed in a separated well and they are affected by the
dd
GM=-=g 01 04'
bulk modulation. Due to this bulk effect an extra current
'dd ( i d ) flows into the gain node, given by
The transconductance of this stage is given by G M =
( g m l g m 2 ) / 2 g m l , or the PSRR, vdd results in, using
(9,

Using the same technique for the parasitic capacitors, the

relationship becomes
g m1
PSRR, vdd (13) (16)
go1 S.(C,l+ cp4)
So to improve the PSRR,Vss, matched input devices are
A comparison of the hand calculations and the SPICE required and the drain-bulk capacitance of M 9 must be
simulations on this structure is presented in Table 11. minimized.
It can be concluded that in order to improve the high
frequency PSRR, mainly the parasitic drain-bulk capaci- A OTA
tances of transistors M1 and M4 have to be made very A widely used transconductance amplifier is the two-
small. Inserting cascode transistors increases the output stage amplifier presented in Fig. 6. This amplifier is
conductances go, and go4,but it does not decrease the internally compensated with a Miller capacitance (Cc).

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STEYAERT AND SANSEN: PSRR OTA’S 1081

St.9. 1 stapc 2

QX2-
output

Fig. 7. Equivalent network of the Miller OTA for calculating

PSRR,

Fig. 6. two-stage Miller transconductance amplifier.

output

The first stage ( M l - M4) consists of a source-coupled

input structure with active load; the second one ( M 5 - M 6 )
consists of an inverter structure. Between the two gain
nodes a compensation capacitor is placed (Cc).
Fig. 8. Equivalent network, including the capacitors, of the Miller
The study of the low frequency PSRR,u,, is worked OTA for calculating PSRR, udd.
out by dividing the circuit in two subcircuits as is shown in
Fig. 6. The equivalent circuit at low frequencies (i.e., the
circuit without any capacitances) is given in Fig. 7, with
A1 and A2 the open-loop gains of the two gain stages,
each stage having a high output impedance. In this equiv-
alent network the open-loop gain of the amplifier is given
by A A l . A 2 , and the power supply gain by A , gm 4.67 4.7 3.5 3 . 5 35 35 UIV
go 8.5 8.5 15 15 145 105 2 2 . 8 nA/V
A,, A 2 . ( 1 - A,,), with A,, U 1 /Udd) and Ap2 Cp 191 191 80 80 211 79 779 fF
U,,,* udd when both inputs, inverting and noninvert-
ing, are ac-grounded) the power supply gains of each PSRR,
stage. The power supply is then low-freq. 92dB 93dB
f-3dB 4.9Hz 4Hz
P SR OdB OdB
PSRR.vss
low-freq. 96dB 97dB
f-3dB 680HZ 650HZ
P SR 47dB 47dB

1 1 1 1
PSRR PSRR2.Al A1 PSRR1’ (18) The comparison between hand calculations and SPICE
simulation on this circuit is given in Table 111. Thus it can
In order to calculate the PSRR, udd, the open-loop gain of be concluded that the PSRRp,,, of the Miller OTA is
the first stage (Al), the PSRR of the first stage (PSRRl), almost given by the PSRR of the second stage multiplied
and the one of the second stage (PSRR21, must be calcu- by the gain of the first stage.
lated. The gain of the first stage is given by A1 The Miller OTA at higher frequencies is analyzed using
go4). The PSRRl was calculated in the
the equivalent network of Fig. 7 and adding the capaci-
first part of this section (see (12), whereby the inverting tors of the circuit. The result is represented in Fig. 8,
and the noninverting input nodes are interchanged), or where stands for the compensation capacitance, CL
for the load capacitance, Ci for the parasitic, to the
PSRRl 12b) ground, and C1 for the gate-source capacitance of tran-
go4
sistor m5. For frequencies up to the GBW (and thus
The PSRR2 is calculated using cut b at the output of lower than the bandwidth of the second stage), the invert-
stage 2 (see Fig. 61, which results in PSRR2 ing input of the second stage always follows the noninvert-
So, if the relationships are substituted in (181, it becomes ing input due to the feedback by Cc. Hence the capacitor
C1 sees no ac-voltage drop, which means that the value of
1 (go2 go4) go2 this capacitor is of no importance in this analysis ( e . g . , in
(19) a SPICE simulation where C1 was doubled, the PSRR
PSRR grnl.grn5 1
decreased only 0.1 dB, which can be neglected). This is in
or with go, go, go4,it results in contrast with the usually suspected signal feedthrough
through C1-Cc for the degradation of the PSRR. Let us
further simplify the structure by assuming an infinite
PSRR in the first stage. Hence Fig. 8 can be redrawn into

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1082 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 37, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER. 1990

1utput

Fig. Equivalent network of the second stage of the Miller OTA.

Fig. 10. An improved two-stage Miller transconductance amplifier.

Fig. 9. If Ci is further neglected (see also Fig. 9: Ci is
much smaller than Cc), a simple unity gain follower is
obtained. So the power supply gain is equal to one ( u , , ~
U&,). To calculate the PSRR, Udd, the current that flows
into the gain node ( U , ) is extracted taking into account
the effect of the output stage (u,,,~ The ratio
current (i,,) versus power supply variation (U&,)becomes

GM, s.Cc. (21) Fig. 11. Equivalent network of the improved Miller OTA to calculate
the PSRR, udd.
And so the PSRR, at higher frequencies ( f fdominant)
becomes, using (51,
In Table 111, the hand calculations for both PSRR,v,,
and PSRR, U,, are compared with SPICE simulations.

Of course, the same can be deduced using (17). Here it C. Improving the Miller OTA on PSRR
has to be remarked that A 2 * ( 1 - A,,) 1 and A,,, 1 As can be seen when (23) and (8) are compared, the
(Ap2 go, CO, or the relation becomes PSRR, Udd Miller OTA is not very good in the PSRR,u,, spec at
A1 * A 2 gml cc). The total PSRR, Udd of the high frequencies ( f fdominant), compared with the single
Miller OTA is ((20) and (22)) stage OTA. This is mainly due to the internal feedback
network as explained in Fig. 9. To reduce this effect an
extra transistor ( M l l ) , as presented in Fig. 10, is inserted
gm5
[21, [31, El, [61.
If the output voltage ( u , , ~ )is calculated for frequencies
As can be seen in this relationship, the Cc has to be made fdominant f GBW in the equivalent network of Fig. 11,
as small as possible in order to increase the PSRR at high it results in
frequencies. However, it has to be remarked that the PSR
becomes 0 dB (uOut Udd or the power supply gain is u,,,~ s . C i - ( g m l l s.(Cc C11)) Ci
equal to one)! It means that the PSRR,u,, at frequencies (27)
'dd gml1. CC cc
higher than fdominant becomes very bad. E.g., the mea-
sured PSR of a LM741 and TL081, both op-amps using a with Ci the capacitance from the internal node to the
Miller structure, are approximately 0 dB and 1 dB, ground. Or the current (id) that flows into the first gain
respectively [4]. node becomes (see also (21))
Until now, the PSRR,v,, has been analyzed. Let us
now study the PSRR,u,, using the cuts a and b in Fig. 6.
The first cut creates a PSRR,u,, given by
1 (go, S ' C P ~. )< g , l - gm2) and hence the PSRR, Udd becomes (see also (23))
24)
PSRR, gml.(grn,+ gm2)
PSRR, 2 . go,. grn~
go, 29)
and the second ( b ) creates a PSRR,u,, given by s.Ci
grn5

or the performance on the PSRR,v,, at high frequencies

with C1 the total' capacitance at node Vl(Cl is improved by Cc/Ci; e.g., if the compensation capaci-
Because the input transistors are normally matched tance is 2 pF and the internal capacitance Ci is 200 fF,
( g m l gm2),the first term (24) can be neglected, or the PSRR, Udd iS improved by 20 dB. Hence the PSR, Udd
becomes approximately 20 dB instead of 0 dB. If there
gml'gm5
PSRR, U,, exists a parasitic capacitance (C2) between nodes 11 and
go6 go2 go41 go,. cc cl) 10 of Fig. 10 (with C2 Cc), this capacitance value has
(26) to be added to Ci in (351437) (C2 becomes in parallel

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STEYAERT AND SANSEN: PSRR OTA'S 1083

TABLE IV
AND MEASURED
CALCULATED SMALL-SIGNAL
n3 n4 Mi 4 SPECIFICATIONS
OF THE CORE-AMPLIFIER

Gain &t
44.7k rlOk
low-freq
fdomirant 7 . 43HZ c35Hz
GBW 334kHz 350kHz
Phase m a r g i n 54" 60"
wn 4 . 2rad/s 3.17rad/s
I Damping 0.7
Fig. 12. Circuit diagram of the realized core-amplifier. Gain 2.53

TABLE V
THETOTALINTERNAL CAPACITANCE
Ci+C2(Ci=Cl+C3+C4)
Capacitance fF

Fig. 12), which results in a total capacitance of Cz C2

250 fF.The compensation capacitance Cc is designed to
Fig. 13. A microphotograph of the realized core-amplifier in a 3p be 2.5 pF.
p-well CMOS.
As to calculating the PSRR, L ' ~ it~ ,has to be remarked
that the transistors M11 and M12 have a bulk modula-
with Ci).So the PSRR,c,, becomes tion effect (p-well CMOS process). Due to this effect, an
I extra current (i,) is introduced in the gain node given by
PSRR, gdd 2. (30) (for low-frequencies)
04 go5
s. ci C2)
ib go6'grnhll go6 go5 grnbll gmhl2

So to improve the high frequency PSRR the gate-drain Cdd gmll gmbll go6 gmbll
(C2) of m13 (see Fig. 12), and drain-bulk plus gain-drain gmll- gm12
of M 7 and M11 must be designed as small as possible. In (32)
gmll
the next section an amplifier using this technique is
designed. The measured PSRR performances arc com- which results in a PSRR,u,, of about 85 dB. At high
pared with the calculated and simulated performances. frequencies, the bulk modulation introduces a current (i,)
VI. MEASUREMENTSON DESIGNED given by
CORE-AMPLIFIER
STRUCTURE GM ib gmbll
(33)
The total designed circuit is presented in Fig. 12, and 'dd gmll+gmbll
this structure is called a core-amplifier [6]. In this
Thus the PSRR, L'dd becomes
structure transistor M 11 improves the PSRR specifica-
tions, as was analyzed in the previous paragraph. In Fig. PSRR, L'dd
13, a microphotograph of the realized amplifier is shown. gml
From the open-loop measurements the small signal pa- (34)
Agmb Agm
rameters of the amplifiier are extracted [71. These param-
eters arc given in Table IV. go
As mentioned above, the advantage of this amplifier go6 gmhl gmbll

structure, compared with the commonly used Miller am- gmll gmbll gmll grnbll
plifier, is the excellent power supply rejection ratio. Using
(14) for the low frequency and (30) for the high frequency In Table VI the measured and calculated specifications
behavior, we find for this structure are compared. As can be seen in the table, the PSR, udd is
indeed improved from 0 to 20 dB. However, in this p-well
1
PSRR, c,, (31) CMOS process, the PSR, U,,is decreased, mainly due to
g,, gm,
go,. s*(Ci C 2 ) the bulk modulation effect of transistor M11. Of course
gm1 gm2 in an n-well CMOS process this effect is eliminated by
In Table V the capacitance Ci C2 is calculated (see also connecting the well with the source. In a p-well CMOS

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1084 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 37, NO.9, SEPTEMBER. 1990

surements on PSRR specifications have been compared

with the hand calculations and SPICE simulations. It is
found that the structure has excellent PSRR specifica-
PSRR.V.33
tions, compared with the commonly used Miller amplifier
low-frep 91dB 89dB *4dB structure, even at higher frequencies.
1OkHz 51dB 49 5dB+O 5dB
PSR 20dB 19dBk.O 5dB
REFERENCES
K. Halonen and W. Sansen, “Effect of current spikes in power
supply rails on PSRR performances of switched-capacitor filters,”
in Proc. ISCAS-87, Portland, OR, May 1987.
D. Alstot and W. Black, “Technological design considerations for
monolithic MOS switched-capacitor filtering systems,’’ Proc. IEEE,
vol. 71, pp. 967-986, Aug. 1983.
R. Jolly and R. McCharles, “A low-noise amplifier for switched-
process, this effect can be cancelled if the output stage is capacitor filters,” ZEEE J . Solid-state Circuits, vol. SC-17, pp.
inverted (PMOS transistors M11 and M14 in Fig. 12 1192-1194, Dec. 1982.
S. Stas and M. Steyaert, “Modeleren van operationele versterkers
become nMOS transistors and the nMOS transistor M13 in het frequentie-en tijdsdomein,” Masters thesis, Katholieke Uni-
in Fig. 12 becomes a PMOS transistor). The relation for versiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, 1983.
J. Fischer, “A high-performance CMOS power amplifier,” IEEE J .
the PSRR,v,, is in that case given by (see also (30)) Solid-state Circuits, vol. SC-20, 1200-1205, Dec. 1985.
D. Ribner and M. Copeland, Design technique for a cascoded
g m1 CMOS opamp with improved PSRR and common-mode input
range,” IEEE J . Solid-state Circuits, vol. SC-19, pp. 919-925, Dec.
1984.
W. Sansen, M. Steyaert, and P. Vandeloo, “Measurement of opera-
gm14 tional amplifier characteristics in the frequency domain,” IEEE
Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. IM-34, pp. 59-64, Mar. 1985.
and for the PSRR,u,, it becomes (see also (10))

It was found from hand calculations and SPICE simula- Michel S. J. Steyaert (S’85-A’89) received the
tions that such a structure has a PSR, Udd of more than 20 engineer’s degree in electrical and mechanical
engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit
dB and a PSR,v,, of more than 25 dB. Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium in 1983 and the
Ph.D. degree in electronics from the Katholieke
VII. CONCLUSION Universiteit Leuven in 1987.
From 1983 to 1986 he received an IWNOL
In large systems, where different structures are inte- fellowship, which allowed him to work as a
grated on one chip, the PSRR specification of the differ- research assistant at the Laboratory ESAT, K.U.
ent blocks is very important. Therefore the most used Leuven. In 1987 he was responsible for several
building block in analog design, the transconductance industrial proiects in the field of analog micro-
power circuits,at the Laboratory-ESAT, K.U. Leuven as an TWONL
amplifier, has been analyzed. project-researcher. In 1988, he was a visiting assistant professor at the
First an analysis technique based on cuts in subcircuits University of California, Los Angeles. Since 1989 he has been at the
Laboratory ESAT, K.U. Leuven as an NFWO research associate. His
was presented. By this technique the power supply current research interests are in high frequency analog integrated cir-
transconductances of each network branch can be calcu- cuits for telecommunications.
lated. The summation of these power supply transconduc-
tances of each branch results in the total power supply
transconductance. The PSRR is thereby given by the ratio
of the signal transconductance and the power supply
transconductance. Willy M. C. Sansen (S’66-M72-SM’86) re-
Using the presented technique, different amplifier ceived the engineering degree in electronics
form the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Hev-
structures have been compared on the basis of hand erlee, Belgium, in 1967 and the Ph.D. degree in
calculations and SPICE simulations. It has been shown electronics from the University of California,
that the PSRR specifications of a single-stage OTA are Berkeley, in 1972.
In 1968 he was employed as an Assistant at
an order of magnitude better than for the widely used the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 1971 he
two-stage Miller OTA. Also, the cause of this bad PSRR was employed as a Teaching Fellow at the Uni-
specification in the two-stage Miller OTA has been inves- versity of California. In 1972 he was appointed
by the Belgian National Foundation as a Re-
tigated. It is shown that it is due to a complex feedback search Associate at the Laboratory Elektronika, Systemen, Automati-
loop in the output stage and not to a signal feedthrough satie, Technologie, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where he has been
through a gate-source capacitance and the compensation Full Professor since 1981. Since 1984 he has been the head of the
Department of Electrical Engineering. His interests are in device model-
capacitance, as is usually suspected. ing, design of integrated circuits, and medical electronics and sensors.
With these analyses it is shown that the problem in the Dr. Sansen a member of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Ingenieurs
two-stage Miller OTA can be solved by inserting an extra Vereniging, the Audio Engineering Society, the Biotelemetry Society,
and Sigma Xi. In September 1969 he received a CRB Fellowship from
cascode transistor in the circuit. This improved amplifier the Belgian American Educational Foundation, in 1970 a G.T.E. Fellow-
has been designed in a 3-pm p-well process. The mea- ship, and in 1978 a NATO Fellowship.

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