Electronics III (Spring 2020)

Midterm Examination (II)

[Total 100 pts. Close book, Close notes, Open Calculator]

1. (20 pts.) Please give brief answer for the following questions. (4pts. each)
(a) (True or False) Raising the load capacitance on the output node will result in better phase
margin for the two-stage opamp ?
(b) (True or False) If we bias a power MOSFET at high-current region, ex: used for the Class-A
output stage, the MOSFET does not suffer from thermal runaway.
(c) (True or False) During designing a filter based on the second-order LCR resonator, we usually
prevent to alter its natural structure of the resonator for the reason of maintaining its natural
pole frequency 0 and pole quality factor Q.
(d) (Choose one) The PSRR+ for a well-matched two stage CMOS opamp is (0, gmro, (gmro)2,
).
(e) (Choose one) For increasing the high-frequency performance (such as slew-rate and/or input
bandwidth) of a two-stage CMOS op amp, we should
(A) use larger L for transistors, and operate transistors at larger overdrive voltage,
(B) use larger L for transistors, and operate transistors at smaller overdrive voltage,
(C) use smaller L for transistors, and operate transistors at larger overdrive voltage,
(D) use smaller L for transistors, and operate transistors at smaller overdrive voltage.

2. (20 pts.) [Class D Output Stage]

(a) Please explain why the theoretical power-conversion efficiency of a class D output stage can
achieve 100%. (5pts.)
(b) Follow (a), however, there are several practical reasons degrade the power-conversion
efficiency of a class D output stage. Please state three practical reasons on this issue. (15
pts.)

3. (20 pts.) [Two-Stage Opamp] For the two-stage opamp shown below,

1
 (a) What is the reason that R is necessary when compensating the two-stage opamp? (5 pts.)
(b) Given a nonzero R, please drive the expression of zero frequency in terms of gmi, R, and CC.
Note that gmi is the transconductance of the transistors Qi. (5 pts.)
(c) Generally, there are two possibilities to choose R when compensating this opamp. Please
illustrate all these two methods and their corresponding expression of R. (10 pts.)

4. (20 pts.) [Folded-Cascode Opamp] For the folded-cascode opamp shown below, (5 pts. each)

(a) What is the input common-mode range of this circuit? Please give your answer in terms of
VDD, VSS, VOVi, and Vti, where VOVi and Vti is the overdrive voltage and the threshold voltage
of the transistors Qi.
(b) Please modify this folded-cascode opamp, and depict the new circuit which can extend the
input common-mode range to become rail-to-rail.
(c) What is the range of the output swing for this circuit? Please give your answer in terms of VDD,
VSS, VOVi, and Vti, where VOVi and Vti is the overdrive voltage and the threshold voltage of the
transistors Qi.
(d) Please explain how to extend the range of the output swing for this circuit.

5. (20 pts.) [Filter Approximation: Butterworth Filter]

(a) Find the Butterworth transfer function that meets the following low-pass filter specifications:
fp = 10 kHz, Amax = 1 dB, fs = 40 kHz, Amin = 28 dB, dc gain = 2. (15 pts.)
(b) Follow (a), if Amin is to be exactly 28 dB, to what value can Amax be reduced. (5 pts.)
2𝑁
𝜔
Some equations you may need during answering this question: 𝐴(𝜔𝑠 ) = 10log [1 + 𝜖 2 (𝜔 𝑠 ) ];
𝑝

𝐾𝜔0𝑁
𝜖 = √10𝐴𝑚𝑎𝑥 ⁄10 − 1; 𝜔0 = 𝜔𝑝 (1⁄𝜖 )1⁄𝑁 ; and 𝑇(𝑠) = (𝑠−𝑝
1 )(𝑠−𝑝2 )⋯(𝑠−𝑝𝑁 )