Challenges of VDD scaling for analog circuits: an amplifier
Abstract. With the shrinking of the device dimensions, the power supply voltage value is continuously decreasing. Since the threshold voltage value does not decrease as much as the power supply and the drain source saturation voltage becomes an important fraction of the power supply, many amplifier architectures are no more suitable for modern processes. A transconductance amplifier based on current mirrors is analyzed highlighting the main challenges of a low-voltage analog design. Among the many proposed amplifier architectures, a topology based on current mirrors has been chosen as the most promising to operate with low voltages. Simulations with 90nm CMOS prove the feasibility of circuit operation with satisfactory performance at an operating power supply voltage as low as 0.6V.
