ELE3075

Microelectronic Circuits2

Chapter 9
Cascode Stages and Current Mirrors
Fundamentals of Microelectronics

Ickhyun Song
Assistant Professor
Department of Electronic Engineering
Hanyang University
Ickhyun Song 1
9.1 Cascode Stage (1)
• 9.1.1 Cascode as a Current Source
- Output impedance is limited due to the channel-length modulation (in MOSFETs)
- Source degeneration “boosts” the impedance seen looking into the drain

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9.1 Cascode Stage (2)
• 9.1.1 MOS Cascodes
- Unfortunately, the voltage drop across the degeneration resistor also increases
proportionally, consuming voltage headroom
- In order to relax the trade-off between the output impedance and the voltage headroom,
we can replace the degeneration resistor with a transistor

Rout  1  g m1rO 2 rO1  rO 2

Rout  g m1rO1rO 2

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9.1 Cascode Stage (3)
• 9.1.1 MOS Cascodes
- MOS cascode can be thought of as stacking a transistor on top of a current source
- PMOS-based cascode gives the same expression for the output impedance

Rout  1  g m1rO 2 rO1  rO 2

Rout  g m1rO1rO 2
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9.1 Cascode Stage (4)
• 9.1.2 Cascode as an Amplifier
- The concept of transconductance can be generalized to the “strength” of a circuit
in converting the input voltage to a current
- “Short-circuit transconductance”
- Note the direction of iout

iout
Gm 
vin vout  0

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9.1 Cascode Stage (5)
• 9.1.2 Cascode as an Amplifier
- By representing a linear circuit with its Norton equivalent, the relationship between Vout
and Vin can be expressed by the product of Gm and Rout

vout  iout Rout  Gm vin Rout

vout vin  Gm Rout

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9.1 Cascode Stage (6)
• 9.1.2 CMOS Cascode Amplifier
- Compared to a simple common-source stage, the voltage gain has risen by a factor of
gm2rO2

Av  Gm Rout
Av   g m1 (1  g m 2 rO 2 )rO1  rO 2 
Av   g m1rO1 g m 2 rO 2

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9.1 Cascode Stage (7)
• 9.1.2 CMOS Cascode Amplifier
- The output impedance of a MOS cascode amplifier can be improved by using a PMOS
cascode current source

Ron  g m 2 rO 2 rO1
Rop  g m3 rO 3 rO 4
Rout  Ron || Rop

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9.2 Current Mirrors (1)
• 9.2.1 Initial Thoughts
- In order to avoid supply and temperature dependence, a bandgap reference can provide a
“golden current” while requiring a few tens of devices
- Then, a method of “copying” the golden current without duplicating the entire bandgap
circuitry is necessary
- Current mirrors serve this purpose

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9.2 Current Mirrors (2)
• 9.2.3 MOS Current Mirror
- The diode-connected MREF produces an output voltage VX that forces Icopy1 = IREF,
if M1 = MREF

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9.2 Current Mirrors (3)
• 9.2.3 MOS Current Mirror
- This is not a current mirror since the relationship between VX and IREF is not clearly defined
- The only way to clearly define VX with IREF is to use a diode-connected MOS since it
provides square-law I-V relationship

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9.2 Current Mirrors (4)
• Example 9.21
- An integrated circuit employs the source follower and the common-source stage. Design a
current mirror that produces I1 and I2 from a 0.3-mA reference.

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9.2 Current Mirrors (5)
• 9.2.3 CMOS Current Mirror
- The idea of combining NMOS and PMOS to produce CMOS current mirror is shown

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 Summary
• Chapter 9
- MOS Cascode (output impedance, voltage gain)
- Current Mirror (diode-connected)

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