Low power bandgap circuit

Details Low power bandgap circuit Low power bandgap circuit

2001-12-06

2004-09-07

Vu, Bao Q. (Department: 2838)

Electricity: power supply or regulation systems

Self-regulating

Using a three or more terminal semiconductive device as the...

C323S316000, C323S315000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06788041

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to reference voltage circuits and, in particular, to a bandgap reference voltage circuit characterized by low power consumption.
2. Related Art
Portable wireless systems have increased the demand for analog circuits which are powered by a low voltage source. Most of these analog circuits use a bandgap reference circuit that generates a constant voltage by summing two currents or voltages, one that is proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) and another that is complementary to absolute temperature (CTAT). The sum of these currents or voltages can be temperature independent and can be used to obtain a reference voltage, usually referred to as a bandgap reference voltage. This technique usually requires a relatively high power supply voltage of approximately 2.5V-3.3V and a power supply current of about 100 &mgr;A. Examples of bandgap reference circuits are described in Widlar, “
A new breed of linear ICs run at
1-
volt levels
,” Electronics, Mar. 29, 1979, pp. 115-119, and Brokaw, “
A simple three terminal IC bandgap reference
,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 1974, SC-9 (6), pp.667-670.
Recently, various techniques have been proposed for designing reference voltage circuits that provide precise reference voltages and that operate at low supply voltages. A main emphasis in designing such circuits has been reducing the reference voltage and the power consumption. Such circuit design techniques are described in the following articles: Vittoz et al., “
A Low
-
Voltage CMOS Bandgap Reference
,” IEEE Journal Of Solid-State Circuits, 1979, SC-14, No. 3, pp.573-577; Gunawan et al., “
A Curvature
-
Corrected Low
-
Voltage Bandgap Reference
,” IEEE Journal Of Solid State Circuits, 1993, Vol. 28, No. 6, pp.667-670; Jiang et al., “
Design Of Low
-
Voltage Bandgap Reference Using Transimpedance Amplifier
,” IEEE Transactions On Circuits And Systems-II: Analog And Digital Signal Processing, 2000, Vol.47, No. 6, pp.667-670; Banba et al., “
A CMOS Bandgap Reference Circuit With Sub
-1-
V Operation
,” IEEE Journal Of Solid-State Circuits, 1999, Vol. 34, No. 5, pp.670-674. None of these references, however, disclose a reference voltage circuit that is simple and cost effective, and that has very low power consumption. Therefore, what is needed is a simple and cost effective circuit that provides a precise reference voltage and that has very low power consumption.
SUMMARY
In one embodiment of the present invention, a bandgap reference circuit includes a bias current source, a transistor, a first resistor, a second resistor, and a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) current source. The transistor has an emitter, a collector, and a base. The collector is coupled to the bias current source and to the first resistor. The first resistor is coupled between the collector and the second resistor. The PTAT current source provides a PTAT current to an output node between the first resistor and the second resistor.


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Widlar, R. J.: “A New Breed of Linear ICs Run at 1-Volt Levels,”Electronics, Mar. 29, 1979, pp. 115-119.
Brokaw, A. P.: “a Simple Three Terminal IC Bandgap Reference,”IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 1974, SC-9 (6), pp. 667-670.
Vittoz, E. A. and Neyroud, O.: “A Low-Voltage CMOS Bandgap Reference,”IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 1979, SC-14(3), pp. 573-577.
Gunawan, M., Meijer, G.C.M., Fonderie, J., and Huijsing, J.H.: “A Curvature-Corrected Low-Voltage Bandgap Reference,”IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, 1993, SC-28 (6), pp. 667-670.
Jiang, Y., and Lee, E.K.F.: “Design of Low-Voltage Bandgap Reference Using Transimpedance Amplifier,”IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Analog and Digital Signal Processing, 2000, vol. 47 (6), pp. 667-670.
Banba, H., Shiga, H., Umezawa, A., Miyaba, T., Tanzawa, T., Atsumi, S., and Sakui, K.: “A CMOS Bandgap Reference Circuit with Sub IV Operation,”IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 1999, SC-34 (5) pp. 670-674.
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