Chapter (3)

Current Mirrors

Instructor: Dr. Shaymaa Ahmed

Assistant Professor
Electronics & Communication Eng. Dept.
Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University
Outline
1 Current Source
2 Current Mirror
3 Cascode Current Mirror
4 Wide-swing Current Mirror
5 Sooch Cascode Current Mirror
6 Wilson Current Mirror
Outline
1 Current Source
2 Current Mirror
3 Cascode Current Mirror
4 Wide-swing Current Mirror
5 Sooch Cascode Current Mirror
6 Wilson Current Mirror
 Current Source

Why Current Source?

 Before any device can be used in any application, it has to be properly biased so that
small signal AC parameters are well defined and the device is in proper region of
operation.
 Current sources are often used for general circuit biasing and is also used as active load
to improve amplifier gain.

 A Current Source is created using a Current Mirror.

 Current Mirror is an analog circuit that senses the reference current
and generates the copy or number of copies of the reference current,
with the same characteristics.
 Current mirror is also a basic building block in current integrated
circuits, for biasing the amplifiers.

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 Current Source

Current Source Specs

 Finite o/p resistance degrades current source accuracy and amplifier gain.

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 Current Source

Realization of Current Source

 Realization of current source by MOSFET in saturation region.

Voltage Headroom the minimum voltage difference required between the supply voltage and the output
voltage for the transistors to operate correctly in the saturation region to ensure proper operation of the
current mirror circuit.
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 Current Source

Sink and Source Currents

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 Current Source

Current Mirror Specifications

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 Current Source

MOSFET in Saturation

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 Current Source

MOSFET in Saturation

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 Current Source

MOSFET in Saturation

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 Current Source

Current Source Implementation

 Resistive Biasing: MOSFET is biased by a voltage divider
Assume that λ=0

 Simple Current Mirror circuit can overcome these problems.

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 Current Source

How to Generate Robust Currents?

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Outline
1 Current Source
2 Current Mirror
3 Cascode Current Mirror
4 Wide-swing Current Mirror
5 Sooch Cascode Current Mirror
6 Wilson Current Mirror
 Current Mirror

Current Mirror Definition

 A current mirror is a circuit designed to copy a current through one active device
by controlling the current in another active device of a circuit, keeping the
output current constant regardless of loading.
 The current mirrors are basic building block of the analog and mixed integrated
circuits. Their output generates a replica of the input reference current, i.e.

Iout  n  Iref
The ratio n between both currents can be equal, higher or smaller than 1.

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 Current Mirror

Simple MOSFET Current Mirror

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 Current Mirror

Simple MOSFET Current Mirror

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 Current Mirror

Example 1
An integrated circuit employs the source follower and the common source stage shown in Fig.1.
Design a current mirror that produces I1 and I2 from a 0.3 mA reference.

Fig.1

Solution

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 Current Mirror

Solution
𝐼1 0.2 𝑚𝐴 2 (𝑊ൗ𝐿)1 𝐼2 0.5 𝑚𝐴 5 (𝑊ൗ𝐿)2
= = = = = =
𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓 0.3 𝑚𝐴 3 (𝑊ൗ𝐿)𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑓 0.3 𝑚𝐴 3 (𝑊ൗ𝐿)𝑟𝑒𝑓

(𝑊Τ𝐿)𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 3 (𝑊Τ𝐿) (𝑊Τ𝐿)𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 3 (𝑊Τ𝐿)

(𝑊Τ𝐿)1 = 2 (𝑊Τ𝐿) (𝑊Τ𝐿)2 = 5 (𝑊Τ𝐿)

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 Current Mirror

Simple MOSFET Current Mirror

 Even if these transistors are identical and have been

fabricated on the same chip [thus practically processing
similar parameters such as VTH , COX , μn ] , there are three
effects that causes current mirror to be different from ideal
situation.

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 Current Mirror

Channel Length Modulation Effect (VDS Effect)

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 Current Mirror

Channel Length Modulation Effect (VDS Effect)

λ effect introduces large error in the mirrored current

 Iout = n Iref only if λ=0 in both transistors, or we arrange that both transistors have the
same VDS, which is impossible, as VD2 depends on the circuit that Iout is connected to.

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 Current Mirror

Channel Length Modulation Effect (VDS Effect)

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 Current Mirror

Current Mirror Analysis

 The key to eliminate the current gain systematic error is to make VOUT = VIN
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 Current Mirror

Current Mirror Analysis

 A simple current mirror allows for large headroom, but it is less accurate.

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Outline
1 Current Source
2 Current Mirror
3 Cascode Current Mirror
4 Wide-swing Current Mirror
5 Sooch Cascode Current Mirror
6 Wilson Current Mirror
 Cascode Current Mirror

Cascode Current Mirror

In order to overcome the error due to channel length modulation, instead of a “ simple current
mirror” it is recommended to use “ cascade current mirror”.

• The Cascode M2 and M4 provides a larger output resistance.

• By choosing a suitable bias voltage VB, we can force VY to equal VX,

and then Iout will be a perfect mirror image of Iref.

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 Cascode Current Mirror

How do we generate VB?

We need VY = VX, therefore:

We see that we need to add to VX some suitable VGS

• That’s why we stack one more diode-connected M3 on top of M1.
VB = VGS3 + VX
• Let’s match M3 to M4 and connect their gates By structure we can create:
VGS3 =VGS4
VB = VGS3 + VX = VGS4 + VY
• We need to choose (W/L)4/(W/L)3=(W/L)2/(W/L)1
• Then: VX = VY with no need to add a supply VB.
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 Cascode Current Mirror

Cascode Current Mirror

 Cascode has a much narrower headroom, but it is much more accurate.

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 Cascode Current Mirror

Cascode CM Wastes Headroom

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Outline
1 Current Source
2 Current Mirror
3 Cascode Current Mirror
4 Wide-swing Current Mirror
5 Sooch Cascode Current Mirror
6 Wilson Current Mirror
 Wide-swing Current Mirror

Wide-swing Current Mirror

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 Wide-swing Current Mirror

Wide-swing Current Mirror

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 Wide-swing Current Mirror

Wide Current

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 Wide-swing Current Mirror

High Swing Current Mirror with Two input Branches

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Outline
1 Current Source
2 Current Mirror
3 Cascode Current Mirror
4 Wide-swing Current Mirror
5 Sooch Cascode Current Mirror
6 Wilson Current Mirror
 Sooch Cascode Current Mirror

Sooch Cascode Current Mirror

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Outline
1 Current Source
2 Current Mirror
3 Cascode Current Mirror
4 Wide-swing Current Mirror
5 Sooch Cascode Current Mirror
6 Wilson Current Mirror
 Wilson Current Mirror

Wilson Current Mirror

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Summary of Current Mirror

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References