ANALYSIS OF OTA CIRCUITS USING CADENCE TOOLS

BY RAKESH PEDNEKAR (110942005) KUSHAL N. TRIVEDI (110942015) ANKUR MOR (110942016)

M.TECH MICROELECTRONICS (2011-12)

MANIPAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

In this lab we worked on the operational transconductance amplifier and the related circuits, we first configured the OTA block using cadence and then using this block as our component we designed the required circuit. Modelling of OTA The OTA is nothing but a VCCS; following figure shows the construction of single positive, single negative o/p OTA. We can construct the multiple o/p OTA simply by adding the outer current mirrors.

The above figure shows the schematic of OTA which we created in cadence. The pins which are made available for connection outside are; 1. Vdd 2. Vss 3. I/P (+ & -) 4. O/P (+ & -) 5. I bias

The block diagram of OTA and the block which is created in cadence are as shown.

The dimensions which we used for both nmos & pmos in OTA areL= 0.6m; W= 1.6m. This was done to get easier calibration; the L & W can be adjusted according to our requirements. Also we used the bias current most of the times as 10A; which in turn gave the resultant transconductance of the device in the range of gm (75). To tweak the transconductance we can change the W & L or we can also change the bias current. In the following section it will be clear that how easily we can implement the circuits using OTAs.

CIRCUIT IMPLEMENTATIONS & ANALYSIS Circuit 1 LPF(1st ORDER) a) LPF using OTA. The following figure shows implementation of 1st order LPF using the OTA block.

The figure below shows the output AC response for the first order low pass filter.

Here, the frequency is f=

Now we know that, the gm = 75 and we connected the C = 1pF; Correspondingly the frequency f = 11.93 MHz. We also performed the parametric analysis by varying the capacitance for a certain range and got the output accordingly, it is shown below.

Circuit 2 APF (2nd ORDER) using passive components We implemented the 2nd order APF using OTA block and passive components and analysed it to get the output. The circuit and its analysis are as shown below.

The transfer function for the given circuit is ( )

f= Now substituting value of L1=1mH and c = 10pF. So theorotical calculated cut off frequency is as, f= .

Now, we had g = 75. So, we got frequency value as f = 10.591MHz. We simulated the circuit and got almost the same frequency from the phase plot. The plot is shown below.

It can be observed from plot that, when phase is 0 degrees the frequency is approximately 11.16MHz and we got frequency of 10.591MHz using calculations.

Circuit 3 Second Order All Pass Filter using OTA-C

The plots for gain margin and phase margin are as follows: The transfer function for the given circuit is ( Where gs are transconductance of OTAs and L1 = ; )

all transconductance are equal as we are using same OTA and same bias current for all OTAs; also, all capacitances are taken same for ease of calculation. Comparing with standard form of second order equation, the frequency is f=

Now substituting value of L1 and considering all g & C equal f= .

Now, we had g = 68, and c = 1pF.So, we got frequency value as f = 10.82MHz.

We simulated the circuit and got almost the same frequency from the phase plot. The plot is shown below. It can be observed from plot that, when phase is 0 degrees the frequency is approximately 11.16MHz and we got frequency of 10.82MHz using calculations.

Circuit 4 QUADRATURE WAVE OSCILLATOR (QWO) Quadrature oscillator using OTA blocks: To use OTA for designing quadrature oscillator we need to have a 2 different 4 output OTAs. one OTA with all positive output currents, and second OTA with 2 positive and 2 negative currents.

The output response of quadrature oscillator is as follows:

We can observe from the plot that 2 output currents are 90 degrees phase shifted.