PMOS diode-biased cascoded current mirror

= Schematic Diagram =



= Circuit Netlist =

* dev * ---                                                                I1    n5 0        50uA I2   n3 0        50uA V1   vp 0        1.3V V2   vp n2       0.65V M1   n1 n1 vp vp pmos W=100u L=3u M2   n4 n1 vp vp pmos W=100u L=3u M3   n2 n3 n4 vp pmos W=50u  L=0.35u M4   n5 n3 n1 vp pmos W=50u  L=0.35u M5   n3 n3 vp vp pmos W=11u L=3u

= SPICE Simulations =

Operating Point Analysis
Operating point DC measurement results (re-formatted for display)

n1 = 0.773 n2 = 0.650 n3 = 0.280 n4 = 0.777 n5 = 0.427 vp = 1.3 v1#branch = I1 + I2 = (-50) + (-50) v1#branch = -100uA v2#branch = -49.996 uA (v2#branch/50uA) = 0.9992

And our relevant transistors' device parameters at the DC OP (re-formatted for display):

device m5          m4         m3         m2          m1                                  model   pmos        pmos       pmos       pmos        pmos gm     120.844 uS  819.692 uS 775.238    445.312 uS  445.348 uS                          gds     1.533 MR    169.36 kR  14.588 kR  885.61 kR   892.41 kR                           id      50 uA       50 uA      49.996 uA  49.996 uA   50 uA                               vgs     1.0199 V    0.492 V    0.496 V    0.527 V     0.527 V                             vds     1.0199 V    0.346 V    0.127 V    0.523 V     0.527 V                             vth     0.337  V    0.439 V    0.439 V    0.337 V     0.337 V                             vdsat   0.601  V    0.108 V    0.110 V    0.198 V     0.198 V

DC Analysis (Sweep)
For measuring the variation of the mirrored output current under different applied loads. We apply a DC sweep to V2 (our load voltage) from 1.3V to 0V in 0.05V increments.

We are plotting the output current magnitude vs drain voltage.



Monte Carlo Analysis
In our Montecarlo analysis, we are measuring the effect of transistors’ mismatch on the performance of our current mirror i.e. how small variations in individual transistor parameters when added together can affect the performance of the overall circuit (please refer to the NMOS counterpart article for additional setup details for this simulation).



= Results =

For the cascoded current mirror, we can make the following observations


 * The absolute minimum voltage needed for the mirror output branch to be in the sat region is the vdsat of both mirror and cascode devices: vmin_abs = 0.110 + 0.198 >> 0.308


 * However as shown with the current sizing, the mirror output can go up to maximum 0.8V (at least ~0.5 vload voltage relative to vp) to yield its maximum Rout. (seen from the plot above where the slope is linear).


 * Error Measurement: We see a variation of 49.924uA to 50.002uA over a linear operating vload range of 0.8 to 0V. This is equivalent to an error of 78nA or 0.156% relative to our reference.

Figures of Merit
Output Resistance Rout: 10.256MΩ (measured from 0.8 to 0V linear range)

Compliance Voltage Vmin: 0.8V (or ~0.5V from VP)

Please keep in mind the figures above are likely to be optimistic given we have not considered mirror performance over PVT (where we will expect a large variation from the diode based reference).

= References =


 * Designing Analog Chips (Hans Camenzind)
 * Chapter 3 (pages 3-8)


 * Project files.

= Toolchain =


 * ICclopedia Toolchain.


 * PTM 130nm CMOS SPICE models.