Characterization of Operational Amplifier and OTAs

Introduction:

Every Op-Amp/OTA has its own DC, transient and AC characteristics e.g.
finite gain, settling time or slew rate and bandwidth. For designs, which are
expected to exhibit stable operation (meet design specifications) over long time
intervals and wide variations in temperature, an OP-Amp/OTA must be tested to
ensure adequate DC and AC characteristics to ensure desired behavior. It is for
these reasons the engineer must understand the limitations these parameters
inflict on actual circuits. This write-up will introduce the Test Engineer to testing
the non ideal properties of op-amps/OTAs.

Parameters to be investigate include:

 IB - Input bias current.

 Vos - Input off set voltage.
 SR - Slew Rate or full power bandwidth (f p) - The maximal rate of
change in the output voltage for a step change in the input. In general
positive and negative slew rates are not equal.
 AVol - Open loop DC voltage gain.
 fu or GBP - Unity gain bandwidth or gain bandwidth product. As is
implied by GBP name is the product of Avol and f3dB.
 CMRR - Common mode rejection ratio is a figure of merit for the ratio if
gain of the differential signals to the gain of the difference between
(subtraction of common signal to both inputs) common signal at both
inouts.
 Ro - The driving point impedance at the output.

Laboratory Testing

Objective:

Determine the following amp characteristics which can be used to develop

data sheets and SPICE macro-models. Characterize the selected OTA/opamp
making the following measurements:

a) Input offset voltage

b) Common mode range (CMR)
 c) Slew rate, full power response
d) Input bias current, input offset current
e) Unity gain bandwidth
f) CMRR at 10, 60, 100 and 1KHz
g) PSRR at 60 and 120 Hz
h) Measure either Ro or Rin at DC
i) DC power VDD and IDD.

All of this test can be measured at the wafer level.

Equipment:

Hp 415X Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer

Oscilloscope and/or Network Analyzer
Function Generator – Two channels fully differential.
A modest supply of 0.1% resistor packs.

Approach:

PreLab:

Make a table of the expected values and significance of each parameter from
amp simulation.

 Input offset voltage – All 1X OTA should approach 1-3mV V os

 Slew rate, full power response – Itail/CL
 Input bias current, input offset current – For CMOS this is
input protection leakage.
 Unity gain bandwidth – DUT is setup in unity gain for testing
at the wafer level.
 CMRR at 10, 60, 100 and 1KHz
 PSRR at 60 and 120 Hz
 Measure either Ro or Rin at DC

IF you are not familiar with OTA/opamp parameters, become thoroughly

familiar with all of the non-ideal op amp parameters to be investigated and how
they are measured prior to entering the laboratory. Your notebook should
contain all required test circuits and definitions of parameters to be measured. In
measuring CMRR make both AVDiff and AVCM measurements.

Your measured op amp/OTA may not achieve the CMRR stated by the
designer due to imbalance in the impedance paths between ac ground and each
input. Assuming 0.1% resistors and ignoring parasitic capacitors what is the
highest possible CMRR achievable? ONLY 54dB!!
A) DC Characteristics

The most significant DC characteristics of an OP-AMP are:

- Input offset voltage (Vos) & Common Mode Range (VCMR).

- Input bias current and input offset current.

- Open Loop gain – Avol.

- Common Mode Rejection and Power Supply Rejection Ratios

1. Input offset voltage (Vos) & Common Mode Range (VCMR)

Vos is the applied differential DC input voltage required to provide zero

output voltage from an ideal generator. Vos results in an OP-AMP due
to internal mismatches in transistor parameters which arise at
fabrication time. A circuit to obtain Vos is given in Fig. 1.1.
Hint: Use a 50 Hz triangular waveform. To find VCMR and VOS sweep Vin
from VEE to VCC.
Use R2 equal to your generator impedance.
Fig. 1.1 Input offset voltage test circuits for 1) single sided and b) fully
differential. For low gain OTAs ONLY.

1
Avol  .
1  Slope

(1.1)

2. Common mode range (CMR) and Vout peak-to-peak.

In the circuits above when measuring the single sided circuit peak-to-
peak the output is limited by either the input common mode range or
by the C. As a result the circuit in Fig. 1.2 must be used to determine
amplifier peak-to- peak output. Avol may also be reconfirmed as along
as Avol is not too large. For example when using the hp4155 gains
greater than 1000 can not be accurately determined.
 Fig. 1.2 Input (CMR) and Vout peak-to-peak determination.

3. Input bias current and input offset current

a) Input bias current, IB

IB is the DC biasing current required at the inputs to provide a zero

output voltage without any input signal or offset voltage present.

b) Input offset current, los

 Again since the input transistors (BJTs) or input protection cannot
be made identically equal, there are always some finite difference
between the two input bias currents IB-and IB+ (or lB1 and l B2 ). This
difference is referred as the input offset current l os.

The circuit below is usually used to measure Bipolar input bias

currents and input offset currents.

Fig. 1.3 Circuit for measurement of input bias currents and input offset voltage.

The results from the test circuit above are as follows:

 Switch 1 is opened Vo = lB2R2

(1.2)
 Switch 2 is opened Vo = lB1 R1
(1.3)
 Both switches are opened Vo = los R1
(1.4)

NOTE: Normally, 100K < R1 = R2 < 100M

C1 = C2 = .01 pF

The design engineer can minimize the effects of output offsets due to
current mismatch by insuring that the effective DC resistance looking back
from both the inverting and noninverting pins is identical. This sets up an
equivalent circuit identical to the IOS measurement set up. Also, keeping R1
and R2 small can be beneficial. The Rs are selected based on the
expected values of I and easily measured values for V o.
B) Large signal (> VBE) transient parameters full Power Response (f p)

Full power response fp is the maximum frequency at which rated output

peak to peak can be supplied without significant distortion. From the
obtained value of slew rate (SR), fp can be calculated. SR is measured
using the circuit of Figure 1.4 below.
Use V or Vopp from Part (1) minus 0.5 Volt to set the peak value of
CMR

the Square Wave used to drive the circuit of Figure 1.4 into slew rate
limiting.

SR
fp  ; V pp  rated output voltage
2V pp
(1.6)

Fig, 1.4 Slew rate and fp bandwidth test circuit.

C) Small signal ac parameters

1) Unity Gain Bandwidth fc

Unity Gain Bandwidth fu is the frequency range from “DC” to the frequency
at which the open-loop gain crosses unity or 0dB but is more easily
measured in the unity gain configuration by measuring the 3dB
frequency in the unity gain configuration. Frequently it might be easier
to measure fc with a closed loop gain configuration of 10 in lieu in of
the op amp being in the open loop configuration or unity gain
configuration. Using Figure 2.4 measure fu using a 100mV input
signal.

If closed loop gain is given by:

A( s )
KV 
1  A( s ) B 
1.7

where A( s )  Avol 1  s  show that the circuit of Figure 1.5 can be used to
find fu for large A.

Fig. 1.5 Unity gain bandwidth test circuit*

2) Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR) measurement of opamps

CMRR is the ratio of the differential voltage gain to the common mode
voltage gain. In other words, CMRR is a “figure of merit” comparing the
gain for the differential signals with gain achieved by undesired common–
mode signals. CMMR decreases as a function of frequency due to the
mismatch e.g. capacitive effects, specifically capacitive mismatch in the op
amp as well as desired or parasitic path ways unbalance the impedances
seen looking back from the op amp inputs. Due to the nonlinearity of the
common-mode gain as well as the low amplitude nature, of A cm, the full
common-mode voltage swing must be used to measure CMRR. See Fig.
1.1 to ensure that you do not exceed the VCMR when measuring Acm. A
CMRR test circuit is given in Fig. 1.7. During the test of A cm it is desirable
that an identical; signal be present on both positive and negative inputs of
the op amp.

In this circuit:

R1  R1

R2  R2

and R 2  R 1 so that e cm  e s

*The Unity – Gain point is not significantly affected by the feedback if the
close loop gain is much greater than unity. (e.g. Choose R 2 > 100 R1 )

Fig. 1.7 Common-Mode Rejection Ratio Measurement Circuit

For well-balanced resistors (R1 = R1, R2 = R2), the signal at the two inputs
is essentially a common-mode signal. However, the imbalance of the OP-
AMP produces an output error voltage eo.
 From Fig. 1.7:

eo ' R2
Adiff  
ei R1
(1.8)

eo
A cm  (1.9)
e cm

Since ecm  es for R2 >> R1

Adiff eo ' / ei
CMRR  
Acm eo / e cm
(1.10)

From (2.8)

R1
ei  eo
R2
(1.11)

Substituting (2.11) into (2.10) yields:

R2 e s
CMRR  (2.12)
R1 eo

or, in dB (decibels)

CMRR(dB) = 20 log CMRR

(1.13)

2) CMRR and power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) measurement of OTAs

Recognizing (1.10) can be rewritten as;

Adiff gmvdiff / go gmvdiff

CMRR   
Acm gmcm / go gmvc m
(1.14)

and that PSRR is defined as;

 Adiff gmvdiff / go gmvdiff
PSRR XX    .
Acm gmVxx / go gmVxx
(1.15)

Where xx is SS and DD respectively for the two power supplies CMRR and
PSRR or YYRR can be measured as shown in Fig. 1.8. DC values for all YYRR
values can be determined using the hp415x parameter analyzer by clamping the
output and measuring the input as each input is swept. For bandwidth
measurements at the critical frequencies of 60 and 120 Hz a small valued
resistor << rout may be used to clamp the output and the resulting voltage
measured. In this case YYRR is defined as follows:

iodiff R vindiff gmVdiff

YYRR  
ioVxx R vinyy gmVxx
(1.16)

and xx equals DD, SS, and CM respectively.

Fig. 1.8 Universal Circuit of direct measurement of CMRR and PSRR.