EE4C10 Analog circuit design fundamentals

Course content:

• Introduction to analog design: motivation of analog design; introduction to integrated circuits and CMOS. of basic analog circuits (single-transistor stages, differential pairs, current mirrors).
• Transistor device physics: brief review of MOSFET device physics; MOSFET static and dynamic characteristics; device large-signal behavior, small-signal model.
• Single-stage amplifiers: common-source, common-gate, common-gate amplifier stages, including large-signal behavior, small-signal behavior, input/output impedance.
• Differential amplifiers: large-signal and small-signal analysis; differential-mode and common-mode behavior.
• Current mirrors and biasing: basic current mirrors; cascode current mirrors; current mirror as active load of a differential pair; biasing of common-source, common-gate and common-drain stages; biasing of differential pairs.
• Frequency response of amplifiers: frequency response of common-source, common-gate and common-drain stages; frequency response of differential pairs.
• Noise: review of basic noise principles (ampiutude distribution, power spectral density, singal-to-noise ratio), type of noise in electornic devices; input- and output-referred noise; noise in single-staeg amplifiers, current mirrors and differential pairs.
• Feedback: general properties; feedback topologies; analysis of stability, including gain margin and phase margin.

Study goals:

• Students will be able to identify and describe the following fundamental aspects of analog circuit design:
  • Basic physics of CMOS transistors
  • Small-signal and large-signal models and behavior of CMOS transistors
  • Working principle of basic transistor circuits, such as single-stage CMOS amplifier topologies (common-source, common-gate, common-drain), differential pair and current mirrors
  • Biasing techniques for simple transistor circuits.
  • Source of noise in CMOS circuits and their physical origin.
  • Effect of noise on the performance of analog circuits
  • The definition and the relevance of the frequency response of analog circuits
  • The theory of feedback applied to analog circuits.
• Students will be able to perform the following analysis using analytical and approximate calculation methods:
  • Calculate the gain, the input/output impedance of single-transistor stages, basic and cascaded current mirrors and differential pairs with resistive or active loads.
  • Calculate the noise performance (input- and output-referred noise, signal-to-noise ratio) of basic analog circuits (single-transistor stages, differential pairs, current mirrors).
  • Calculate the frequency response of basic analog circuits (single-transistor stages, differential pairs, current mirrors) with and without feedback.
  • Evaluate the stability of a feedback loop in an analog circuit.
• Students will be able to simulate the transistor-level description of basic analog circuits using a Spice-like simulator. In particular, they will be able to simulate and evaluate the following:
  • DC operation
  • Frequency response
  • Noise performance
  • Transient behavior
  • Stability of feedback loops
• Students will be able to describe the trade-offs involved in the design of a basic analog circuit, such as a current mirror and a single transistor amplifier, and be able to apply such trade-offs in the design of those circuits.
• Students will be able to design simple analog circuits (a current mirror or a single-transistor amplifier, including the bias circuit) for a given specification and will be able to verify their design by both analytical calculation/estimation and circuit simulations.

Teachers

Last modified: 2023-11-04