Jour of Adv Research in Dynamical & Control Systems, Vol.

11, 07-Special Issue, 2019

A Review Article on Integrator Circuits

Using Various Active Devices
Avireni Bhargav*, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, BIT-Mesra, Jaipur
Center, India. E-mail: avirenibhargav@ieee.org
J.Kr. Saini, Jyothi Sharma, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Birla Institute of
Technology, BIT-Mesra, Jaipur Center, India.
K.M. Santhoshini, Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and
Research, Guntur, A.P, India.
Abstract--- An immense number of various analog circuit blocks have been emerged in last few decades. Some of
the different active devices are Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp), Current Conveyor (CC), Operational
Transconductance Amplifier (OTA), Operational Trans-Resistance Amplifier (OTRA), Differential Difference
Current Conveyor Trans conductance Amplifier (DDCCTA), Current Differencing Transconductance Amplifier
(CDTA), Z-Copy Current Differencing Transconductance Amplifier (ZC-CDTA), Voltage Difference
Transconductance Amplifier (VDTA) and so on. This paper presents a review on Integrators up-to-date using
various active devices since Integrators are broadly used in several applications such as in ADC’s, analog
computers, waveform generators, communication systems and instrumentation systems.
Keywords--- Integrator, Op-Amp, CC, OTA, OTRA, CDTA, ZC-CDTA, DDCCTA, VDTA.

I. Introduction
For performing smoothing and anti-aliasing functions of a system, continuous-time filters are used. For the
designing of continuous-time filter structures, Integrator plays a prominent role. The circuit which produces the
output signal which is the time integral of the input signal is nothing but an Integrator circuit. Voltage integrators
carry out the time integration of electronic voltage and are used for measuring volt-second product where as Current
integrators executes the time integration of electronic current and are availed for measuring electric charge. A
numerous number of RC Integrators are designed using several available active devices. Those are, Operational
Amplifier (Op-Amp), Current Conveyor (CC), Operational Transconductance Amplifier (OTA), Operational Trans-
Resistance Amplifier (OTRA), Differential Difference Current Conveyor Transconductnace Amplifier (DDCCTA),
Current Differencing Transconductance Amplifier (CDTA), Voltage Difference Transconductance Amplifier
(VDTA) and so on. This paper provides a literature review on the designed integrators [1-15] and their applications
in different wave-shaping circuits, analog processing systems, bio-medical systems and communication systems.

II. Review of Existing Integrators

By using different active devices, several integrators are designed by considering the use of supply voltage,
power consumption of the circuit and the technology used.
A. Integrators using Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp)
An integrator is designed using Operational Amplifier with the use of capacitor and resistor [1]. An integrating
operation of the input signal can be achieved by placing the capacitor in the feedback path and the resistor at the
input path. The output voltage can be mathematically expressed as,
t
VO (t ) = − V1 (t ) dt (1)
∫
1
CR
0

Figure 1: RC Integrator Uses Op-Amp

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Jour of Adv Research in Dynamical & Control Systems, Vol. 11, 07-Special Issue, 2019

The time constant is RC for the circuit shown in Figure 1. In order to achieve large and small time constant for
the Integrator circuit, it uses resistance transformation [2]. Integrator circuit with large time constant is shown in
Figure 2.

Figure 2: Large Time Constant Integrator Uses Op-Amp

The circuit transfer function is given as,
VO (s ) 1
=− (2)
Vi (s )  R3 R5 
 R R4 R6 
sCR 12 − 1 
 R RR
3 1− 3 5 
 
 R4 R6 
By choosing R 1 =R 2 and R 4 =R 5 , we get
VO (s ) 1
= (3)
Vi (s )  R1 
sCR 1 − 2
 6
R − R3 
From the above equation, the time constant τ i is multiplied by a factor ((R 1 /R 6 -R 3 ) -2) which is very large.

A small time constant Integrator circuit is shown in Figure 3. The transfer function is given as,
VO (s ) 1
= (4)
Vi (s ) R R R R 
sCR 1 2 − 2 5 + 1 + 2 
 R3 R4 R6 R1 

Figure 3: Small Time Constant Integrator Uses Op-Amp

Mostly, RC integrator circuits are designed using Op-Amp’s. The major disadvantage of using Op-Amp is, it
cannot provide a spacious bandwidth and wider dynamic range and also the integrator is designed using passive
elements in which the usage of resistors are more.
B. Integrators using Current Conveyors (CC)
Figure. 4 shows CC based Integrator circuit [3]. The CC based Integrator uses one CC block, two resistors and
one capacitor. The transfer functions of Figure. 4 is given as,

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Jour of Adv Research in Dynamical & Control Systems, Vol. 11, 07-Special Issue, 2019

Vo 1
= (5)
Vin sC3 R2
From the equation (5), the time constant (τ) can be written as
τ = R2C3 (6)
The advantage of this circuit is that, it attains the higher time constant value and the circuit uses two resistors and
avails ±6V along with the power dissipation is more which is disadvantageous.

Figure 4: CC based Integrator

Figure5 shows Second Generation Current Conveyor (CCII+) based Integrator circuit [4]. The current amplifier
in the feedback loop consists of the second generation current conveyors along with the floating capacitance and
resistors R 1 , R 2 and R 3 . The voltage transfer function of the Integrator is
Vo (s ) 1
= (7)
Vin (s )
 R 
sCR1 1 + 3 
 R2 
From the equation (7), the time constant (τ) can be written as
 R 
τ = R1C 1 + 3  (8)
 R2 
The advantage of this circuit is the time constant of the integrator can be varied by changing the resistor values
R 3 and R 2 .

Figure 5: CCII+ based Integrator

Figure 6 shows CCII+ based Integrator [4]. The current amplifier in the feedback loop consists of the second
generation current conveyors along with the grounded capacitance and resistors R 1 , R 2 and R 3 . From Figure. 6, the
portion of the circuit between point A and ground with current conveyor and resistors equivalent to negative active
resistance.
The voltage transfer function of the integrator is
Vo (s ) 1
= (9)
Vin (s ) 2R 
sCR1 1 + 3 
 R2 
From the equation (9), the time constant (τ) can be written as

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Jour of Adv Research in Dynamical & Control Systems, Vol. 11, 07-Special Issue, 2019

 2R 
τ = R1C 1 + 3  (10)
 R2 
The advantage of this circuit is the time constant of the integrator can be varied by changing the resistor values
R 3 and R 2 since it uses a resistance transformation technique.

Figure 6: CCII+ based Integrator with Resistance Transformation Technique

C. Integrators using Operational Transconductance Amplifier (OTA)
Figure 7 shows the current-mode integrator [5] using OTA’s along with Operational Amplifier. The main feature
of this circuit is that, the integrator is designed without using any passive elements but the drawback is it uses Op-
Amp. By using this circuit, a sinusoidal quadrature oscillator is designed which provides a flexibility of
independently controllable frequency.

Figure 7: Current-Mode Integrator

The transfer function of this circuit can be mathematically expressed as,
I out 1 g ma
= where τ = (11)
I in sτ g mb Bint

Where g ma and g mb refer to transconductance of the OTAs and B int indicates gain bandwidth product. The major
drawback is use of Op-Amp.
Figure 8 shows the lossy integrator [6] using single OTA. The transfer function is given as
Vo (s ) gm / C
= (12)
Vin (s ) s + g m / C

Figure 8: Lossy Integrator

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Jour of Adv Research in Dynamical & Control Systems, Vol. 11, 07-Special Issue, 2019

Figure 9 shows the lossless integrator [6] using single OTA. The major drawback is, both the circuits shown in
Figures 8 and 9 works at a supply voltage of ±3V. The transfer function is given as
Vo (s ) g
= − m (13)
Vin (s ) sC

Figure 9: Lossless Integrator

D. Integrator uses Differential Difference Current Conveyor Transconductnace Amplifier (DDCCTA)
An Integrator circuit [10] is designed using the active device, namely, Differential Difference Current Conveyor
Transconductnace Amplifier (DDCCTA) and is shown in Figure 10. The transfer function of the circuit can be
written as,
Vo g
= m (14)
Vin sC

X Z
Vin Y1 DDCCTA O Vo
Y2 Y3
C

Figure 10: Integrator using DDCCTA

The circuit is designed by Cadence Virtuoso by using a 180nm CMOS process. It works with a supply voltage of
±1.8V. Later on, the circuit is practically implemented in a laboratory using AD844AN and LM13600 ICs which
works with a supply voltage of ±9V and uses a capacitor value of 2µF.
E. Integrator uses Z-Copy Current Differencing Transconductance Amplifier (ZC-CDTA)
ZC-CDTA based Integrator [12] is shown in Figure 11 in which it uses the single capacitor element along with
one ZC-CDTA active device. From the below figure, the transfer function can be written as,
Vo g
=− m (15)
Vin sC

Z
Vi p
ZC-CDTA
n X˗ V0
X+ ZC
C

Figure 11: ZC-CDTA based Integrator

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Jour of Adv Research in Dynamical & Control Systems, Vol. 11, 07-Special Issue, 2019

The circuit is designed using 180nm technology with a supply voltage of ±0.9V which provides an advantage
feature.
F. Integrator uses Voltage Difference Transconductance Amplifier (VDTA)
Figure 12 shows an Integrator circuit using the VDTA active device [14]. The designed integrator uses one VDTA
block along with single capacitor.
iz

n Z
Vin
VDTA
p X+ VO
X-

Figure 12: VDTA based Integrator

The transfer function of the circuit shown in Figure 12 is given as,
Vo g
= m (16)
Vin sC
From equation (16), the time constant (τ) and unity gain frequency (ω c ) can be written as
gm 1
ωc =
= (17)
C τ
The major advantage is that, the integrator circuit doesn’t use the resistor and also the circuit works with a low
supply voltage of ±0.9V. The designed circuit is implemented in a gpdk 180nm CMOS process using Cadence
Virtuoso in which the power dissipation is of order 270µW and is also experimentally verified using LM13700 ICs
with a supply voltage of ±7V in which it uses the capacitor value as 0.1µF.

III. Comparative Analysis

Most of the integrator circuits presented in this paper are designed with various active devices in which the
internal circuit is implemented using MOS technology. The major criteria are, the designed Integrator circuit must use
less number of passive elements either resistor or capacitor. The circuits which are implemented without the use of
resistor provide a major advantage that the fabrication is easy in VLSI design. Some of the integrators presented in
this paper are suitable for low power applications. Table I provides the state-of-the-art integrators in the literature.
Table 1: Comparitive Analysis of Candidate Designs
Ref Type of Active Element No. of Active Blocks No. of Passive Elements
[1] Op-Amp 1 2
[2] Op-Amp 2 7
[3] CC 1 3
[4] CCII+ 2 4
[5] Op-Amp, OTA 3 0
[6] OTA 1 1
[10] DDCCTA 1 1
[12] ZC-CDTA 1 1
[14] VDTA 1 1

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IV. Conclusion
A numerous Integrator circuits are designed availing several active devices. In this paper, integrator circuits are
designed with the use of active blocks along with resistors and capacitors. Some of the integrator circuits are
implemented using single active block, single capacitor without the use of resistor. This provides the advantageous
feature for easy implementation and manufacturing of integrated circuits in VLSI design. The integrators are used in
various applications such as, in analog signal processing, analogue to digital converters, communication systems,
biomedical instrumentation, and waveform generators and so on.

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