Optimization Methodology for a 460-MHz-GBW and 80-dB-SNR Low-Power Current-Mode Amplifier

Pietro Maris Ferreira (1) , Anthony Kolar (1) , Philippe Benabes (1)

1 GeePs - Laboratoire Génie électrique et électronique de Paris

Biomedical circuits and systems are a forthcoming field in more than Moore integrated circuits. Majority of published works are interested in voltage-mode sensor instrumentation. In voltage-mode operation, design trade-off is known and design optimization tools available. In contrast, current-mode sensor instrumentation have proved low-power and high-speed signal processing. This work ad- dresses a single-objective optimization of a current-mode instrumentation amplifier (IA), including multi-constraints: area, power consumption, gain, speed, noise, and linearity. Post-layout simulation results have proved optimal IA assessments in CMOS 180 nm, achieving power consumption of 1.5 µ W, gain of 40 dB using minimal transistor area. Optimized current-mode IA has gain- bandwidth product (GBW) of 459.8MHz, SNR of 80 dB and THD of -47 dB. Proposed optimization achieves voltage-mode competitive performance, overcoming in low-power and high-speed due to current-mode assets.

Keywords: high-performance; optimization methodology; current-mode amplifier; bio-electronics; low-power

Domains: Micro and nanotechnologies/Microelectronics; Electronics

Pietro Maris Ferreira, Anthony Kolar, Philippe Benabes. Optimization Methodology for a 460-MHz-GBW and 80-dB-SNR Low-Power Current-Mode Amplifier. SBCCI '15 Proceedings of the 28th Symposium on Integrated Circuits and Systems Design, Aug 2015, Salvador, Brazil. ⟨10.1145/2800986.2801020⟩. ⟨hal-01222050⟩