Low voltage bandgap reference (BGR) circuit

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The invention relates to temperature-stabilized reference voltage circuits, and more particularly to a sub-1-V bandgap reference circuit using a low supply voltage.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Reference circuits are necessary in many applications ranging from memory, analog, mixed-mode to digital circuits. The demand for a low voltage reference is especially apparent in mobile battery-operated products. Low voltage operation is also a trend of process technology advancement. It is difficult to approach a stable operation in conventional bandgap reference (BGR) circuits when the supply voltage is under 1.5 V. As a result, the demand for a new bandgap reference circuit technique which is stable and operated at low supply voltages is inevitable.

For a discussion of bandgap reference circuits with below 1.5 V power supply voltages refer to:

• • [0005] H. Banba, H. Shiga, A. Umezawa, T. Miyaba, T. Tanzawa, S. Atsumi, and K. Sakui, “A CMOS Bandgap Reference Circuit with Sub-1-V Operation,” in IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 34, No. 5, pp. 670–673, May 1999, which describes a BGR circuit where V_ref has been converted from the sum of two currents; one is proportional to V_f and the other is proportional to V_T, and
  • [0006] J. Doyle, Y. J. Lee, Y.-B. Kim, H. Wilsch, and F. Lombardi, “A CMOS Subbandgap Reference Circuit With 1-V Power Supply Voltage,” in IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 252–255, January 2004, where threshold voltage reduction and subthreshold operation techniques are used. Large ΔV_BE (100 mV) as well as a 90-dB operational amplifier are used to circumvent the amplifier offset.

[0007] Shown in FIG. 1a is one example of a conventional CMOS BGR circuit which is composed of a CMOS op-amp OA1, a current mirror comprising MP1, MP2, MP3, diode-wired transistors Q1, Q2, Q3, and resistors R1, R2, all implemented in the standard CMOS process. VDD and VSS are the power supply rails. The area ratio of Q1, Q2, Q3 is Q1:Q2:Q3=1:M:1. Transistors MP1, MP2, MP3 supply currents I1, I2, I3, respectively. The voltage V_BE1 is seen at node BE1, voltage V_N1 is seen at node N1, voltage V_BE2 is seen at node VBE2, and voltage V_BGR is seen at output node BGR.

The current versus voltage relation of a general diode is expressed as:

[0008] $\begin{array}{cc}{I}_D=I_S·\left(e^{\frac{q·V_D}{k·T}}-1\right)& \left(1\right)\end{array}$
If

[0009] $V_D⪢\frac{\mathrm{kT}}{q},$
then eq. (1) can be approximated as

[0010] $\begin{array}{cc}{I}_D\cong I_S·e^{\frac{q·V_D}{k·T}}& \left(2\right)\end{array}$
solving for V_D:

[0011] $\begin{array}{cc}{V}_D=\frac{k·T}{q}·\ln \frac{I_D}{I_S}=V_T·\ln \frac{I_D}{I_S}& \left(3\right)\end{array}$
where

• [0012] k is Boltzmann's constant (1.38×10⁻²³ J/K),
• [0013] q is the electron charge (1.6×10⁻¹⁹ C),
• [0014] T is the absolute temperature (K),
• [0015] V_D is the voltage across the diode,
• [0016] I_D is the diode current,
• [0017] I_S is the saturation current, and
• [0018] V_T is the thermal voltage=(k·T)/q.
  The PMOS transistor dimensions of MP1, MP2, and MP3 are the same. Therefore the currents I1, I2, and I3 have the same value because their gates are connected to a common node.

[0019] $\begin{array}{cc}{\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP1}}={\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP2}}={\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP3}}& \left(4\right)\\ I_1=I_2=I_3=I& \left(5\right)\end{array}$
using (3) and (4), V_BE1 and V_N1 in FIG. 1a can be expressed as:

[0020] $\begin{array}{cc}{V}_{\mathrm{BE1}}=V_T\ln \frac{I}{I_S}& \left(6\right)\\ V_{\mathrm{N1}}=I·\mathrm{R1}+V_T·\ln \frac{I}{M·I_S}& \left(7\right)\end{array}$
where M is the area ratio between diodes Q1 and Q2 (Q1:Q2=1:M; thus M=Q2/Q1) and where V_BE1 is the base-emitter voltage drop of a bipolar transistor or the diode turn-on voltage. Because V_BE1 and V_N1 are a pair of input voltages for the op-amp, they are controlled to be the same voltage.
V_BE1=V_N1  (8)
Using (6), (7), and (8), I is given by:

[0021] $\begin{array}{cc}I=\frac{V_T}{\mathrm{R1}}·\ln ·M& \left(9\right)\end{array}$
Using (9), the conventional BGR, the output voltage V_BGR becomes

[0022] $\begin{array}{cc}{V}_{\mathrm{BGR}}=I·\mathrm{R2}+V_{\mathrm{BE1}}=\frac{\mathrm{R2}}{\mathrm{R1}}·V_T·\ln ·M+V_{\mathrm{BE1}}& \left(10a\right)\end{array}$
Where V_BE1 has a negative temperature coefficient of about −1.5 mV/K as shown in FIG. 1b, whereas V_T has a positive temperature coefficient of about +0.087 mV/K, so that V_BGR is determined by the resistance ratio of R2/R1 and the area ratio of diode-wired transistors Q1, Q2. FIG. 1b is a graph of the simulation results of the prior art bandgap circuit relating temperature in ° C. on the horizontal axis to voltage in Volt on the vertical axis for Curve V_BE1 and Curve V_BGR (output voltage). Thus V_BGR is controlled to be about 1.25 V where the temperature dependence of V_BGR becomes negligibly small. As a result, the supplied voltage can not be lower than 1.25 V_DS+V_DS3, which limits the low voltage design for CMOS circuits as shown in FIG. 1c, Curve 1. FIG. 1c is a graph of the simulation results of the prior art bandgap circuit relating the supply voltage V_DD in Volt on the horizontal axis versus the bandgap reference output voltage V_BGR in Volt on the vertical axis.

[0023] A review of the prior art U.S. patents has yielded the following related patents:

• [0024] U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,041 (Gheorghe et al.) discloses a bandgap reference circuit which when operating with a voltage source in the range from 1.0 to 1.2 volt provides a Vref output of about 242 and 245 mV, respectively, utilizing a PTAT current source.
• [0025] U.S. Pat. No. 6,605,987 (Eberlein) teaches a temperature-stabilized reference voltage circuit using the current-mode technique, in which two partial currents are superimposed on each other and converted into the reference voltage. The circuit permits the implementation of low temperature-compensated output voltages below 1.0 V.
• [0026] U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,066 (Guenot et al.) shows a bandgap circuit producing an output of 1.25 V and utilizing parasitic vertical PNP transistors operating at different current densities. A difference in the base-emitter voltages is developed across a resistor to produce a current with a positive temperature coefficient. When combined with another voltage with a negative temperature coefficient a bandgap reference voltage is produced.
• [0027] U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,850 (Heinrich) describes a bandgap reference circuit, which includes a sensing circuit and a current injector circuit, that can transition quickly to a desired operational state by injecting bootstrap current into an internal node of the bandgap reference circuit. The bandgap reference circuit is effective with a low voltage power supply (e.g., 1–1.5 V).
• [0028] U.S. Pat. No. 6,531,857 (Ju) presents a bandgap reference circuit which has a segmented resistor coupled across the emitter-base terminals of a PNP transistor to generate a V_BE current. The resistor sums this V_BE current with a PTAT current and generates a Vref voltage, where Vref can be less than V_EB. V_EB typically is less than or equal to 0.7 V, resulting in a V_DD voltage of equal or larger than 0.85 V.
• [0029] U.S. Pat. No. 6,489,835 (Yu et al.) discloses a bandgap reference circuit which operates with a voltage supply that can be less than 1 V and where only one non-zero current operating point is available. The bandgap reference circuit comprises a core circuit with an embedded current generator, and a bandgap reference generator with output V_BG.
• [0030] U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,743 (Doyle) describes a sub-bandgap reference circuit yielding a reference voltage smaller than the bandgap voltage of silicon. The generation of the reference signal includes generating first and second signals with negative and positive temperature coefficients, respectively. The first and second signals are then sampled and stored on first and second capacitors. A low impedance path between these capacitors yields the reference signal. Simulation shows a stable sub-bandgap reference output of 0.605 V using a supply voltage of only 1 V.
• [0031] U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2004/0169549 A1 (Liu) presents a bandgap reference circuit comprising an op-amp, a plurality of MOS transistors coupled to the op-amp, a plurality of resistors and bipolar transistors coupled to the MOS transistors. Simulation and measurement results indicate that Vref, generated by the bandgap reference circuit, is within the range of 1.18 to 1.2 V from −40° C. to 120° C.
• [0032] U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0155700 A1 (Gower et al.) teaches a bandgap reference voltage generator with low voltage operation comprising a first closed-loop circuit having a first current with a positive temperature coefficient, and a second closed-loop circuit having a second current with a negative temperature coefficient. The bandgap reference voltage generator includes a multitude of output stages where each output may be independently scaled to have either a zero, a positive or a negative temperature coefficient.

[0033] A problem of many of the prior art circuits is that they tend not to be stable until the supply voltage is larger than 1.5 V or require additional components, such as capacitors which take considerable area, for stable operation at low supply voltages. Clearly a BGR circuit is desirable which can work down to sub-1-V supply voltages which is stable, simple to integrate, and has low cost.

[0034] It is an object of at least one embodiment of the present invention to provide circuits and a method for a temperature independent voltage bandgap reference circuit which is capable of working down to sub-1-Volt.

[0035] It is another object of the present invention to provide a circuit which utilizes standard CMOS processes.

[0036] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a bandgap reference circuit which is stable at supply voltages below 1.5 V.

[0037] It is still another object of the present invention to allow adjustment of the positive and negative temperature coefficients.

[0038] It is a further object of the present invention is to allow adjustment of the temperature coefficient to an arbitrarily selected value.

[0039] It is yet a further object of the present invention is to provide for a fractional bandgap reference voltage.

[0040] It is still a further object of the present invention is to provide a fractional bandgap reference voltage which, regardless of its chosen value, is temperature independent.

[0041] These and many other objects have been achieved utilizing first a circuit which produces positive and negative reference voltages based on the area ratio of 1:M of two diode type devices or diode-connected transistors and the ratio of two resistive means. Secondly, these two reference voltages are driving a summing circuit, each using current sources and resistive means to generate a current which is dependent on the ratio of the positive reference voltage and a resistive means, and the ratio of the negative reference voltage and another resistive means. These currents are then summed using a final resistive means which produces the fractional temperature-independent sub-bandgap reference voltage. The magnitude of the fractional, temperature independent sub-bandgap reference voltage is determined by selecting a specific value for that final resistive means. The current sources of each summing circuit may have equal (W/L) ratios or, depending on the circuit implementation, the ratios of each of these current sources may be N:1 (where N is larger than or equal to 1) for one current source and P:1 (where P is larger than or equal to 1) for the other current source.

[0042] These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

Use of the same reference number in different figures indicates similar or like elements.

[0052] A new low voltage bandgap reference circuit (BGR) is proposed which will be described in detail below. The circuit uses current summation techniques to implement the temperature compensation and is capable of working down to sub-1-V using standard CMOS processes.

[0053] Circuit 200 of FIG. 2a illustrates a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2a comprises a CMOS op-amp OA1, a current mirror with PMOS transistors MP1, MP2, MP3, diode-wired transistors Q1, Q2, and resistors R1, R2, all implemented in the standard CMOS process. VDD and VSS are the positive and negative power supply rails, respectively. Nodes BE1 and N1 are coupled to the minus and plus inputs of OA1, respectively. Nodes BE1 (alternatively node BE2) and POS are outputs which connect to inputs of op-amps OA2, OA3, respectively, described next. Resistor R1 is coupled between node N1 and Q2, resistor R2 is coupled between node POS and VSS. The area ratio of Q1 and Q2 is Q1:Q2=1:M. Current source transistors MP1, MP2, MP3 have the same (W/L) ratio and supply currents I1, I2, I3, respectively. The voltage V_BE1 is seen at node BE1, voltage V_N1 is seen at node N1, voltage V_BE2 is seen at node BE2, voltage V_POS is seen at node POS, voltage V_p is seen at node P, voltage V_N is seen at node N, and voltage V_REF is seen at output node REF.

[0054] PMOS transistor MP4 and resistor Rn are serially coupled between VDD and VSS. The junction of MP4 and Rn is node N. Inputs BE1 (or alternately BE2) and node N are coupled to the minus and plus inputs of OA2, respectively. The output of OA2 couples to the gates of current source transistors MP4 and MP5. PMOS transistor MP5 and summing resistor Rc are serially coupled between VDD and VSS. The junction of MP5 and Rc is output V_REF. PMOS transistor MP6 and resistor Rp are serially coupled between VDD and VSS. The junction of MP6 and Rp is node P. Input POS and node P are coupled to the minus and plus inputs of OA3, respectively. The output of OA3 couples to the gates of current source transistors MP6 and MP7. Coupled in parallel to MP5 is PMOS transistor MP7. Transistors MP4, MP5, MP6, MP7 supply currents I4, I5, I6, I7, respectively.

As already stated above:

[0055] ${\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP1}}={\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP2}}={\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP3}}\mathrm{therefore}\text{:}$ $I_1=I_2=I_3=I$
using eq. (9)

[0056] $\begin{array}{cc}{V}_{\mathrm{Pos}}=I·\mathrm{R2}=\frac{V_T}{\mathrm{R1}}·\ln ·M·\mathrm{R2}=\frac{\mathrm{R2}}{\mathrm{R1}}·V_T·\ln ·M& \left(10b\right)\\ {\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP4}}={\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP5}}\Rightarrow 14=15& \left(11\right)\\ {\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP6}}={\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP7}}\Rightarrow 16=17& \left(12\right)\end{array}$
Because V_BE1 and V_N are a pair of input voltages for the op-amp, they would be controlled to be the same voltage:

[0057] $\begin{array}{cc}{V}_{\mathrm{BE1}}=V_N& \left(13\right)\\ \mathrm{I4}=\frac{V_N}{\mathrm{Rn}}=\frac{V_{\mathrm{BE1}}}{\mathrm{Rn}}& \left(14\right)\end{array}$
Because V_POS and V_P are a pair of input voltages for the op-amp, they would be controlled to be the same voltage.

[0058] $\begin{array}{cc}{V}_{\mathrm{POS}}=V_P& \left(15\right)\\ \mathrm{I6}=\frac{V_P}{\mathrm{Rp}}=\frac{V_{\mathrm{POS}}}{\mathrm{Rp}}& \left(16\right)\end{array}$
from (11) and (13)

[0059] $\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{I5}=\frac{V_{\mathrm{BE1}}}{\mathrm{Rn}}& \left(17\right)\end{array}$
from (12) and (14)

[0060] $\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{I7}=\frac{V_{\mathrm{POS}}}{\mathrm{Rp}}& \left(18\right)\\ V_{\mathrm{REF}}=\mathrm{Rc}\left(\mathrm{I5}+\mathrm{I7}\right)& \left(19\right)\end{array}$
Using (17), (18), and (19)

[0061] $\begin{array}{cc}{V}_{\mathrm{REF}}=V_{\mathrm{BE1}}·\left(\frac{\mathrm{Rc}}{\mathrm{Rn}}\right)+V_{\mathrm{POS}}·\left(\frac{\mathrm{Rc}}{\mathrm{Rp}}\right)& \left(20\right)\end{array}$
from (10b) we know that

[0062] $V_{\mathrm{POS}}=\frac{\mathrm{R2}}{\mathrm{R1}}·V_T·\ln ·M$
which has a positive temperature coefficient of about

[0063] $\left(+0.087·\mathrm{mV}/K\times \frac{\mathrm{R2}}{\mathrm{R1}}\times \ln ·M\right).$
After R1, R2, and M are determined, we can choose the ratio of Rn and Rp to obtain a V_REF whose temperature dependence becomes negligibly small as shown in the graph of FIG. 2b. We can therefore choose different values of Rc to obtain different V_REF voltages. FIG. 2b is graph of the simulation results of the proposed bandgap circuit relating temperature in ° C. on the horizontal axis to voltage in mVolt on the vertical axis for Curves V_BE1, V_POS, and the output voltage V_REF. Curve V_BE1 has a negative slope, Curve V_POS has a positive slope, resulting in Curve V_REF with a slope which is essentially zero throughout the temperature range of −40 to +125° C.
Once we have a temperature independent V_REF by choosing a suitable

[0064] $\frac{\mathrm{Rn}}{\mathrm{Rp}}$
ratio, selecting the different values of Rc would not destroy the temperature independent characteristic of V_REF but would just change the absolute value of V_REF. Therefore we can choose a suitable value of Rc so that the voltage of V_REF is smaller than the external supply voltage. An example is shown in the graph of FIG. 2c, Curve 2, which relates the supply voltage V_DD in Volt on the horizontal axis to voltage in mVolt on the vertical axis for the BGR circuit output voltage V_REF. Curve 2 shows that V_REF=0.6 V and that its value is almost a constant when V_DD>1.0 V. From the simulation results of FIGS. 2b and 2c, we find that the proposed first preferred embodiment of the BGR circuit can be applied to sub-1-V external voltage systems.

[0065] With reference to circuit 300 of FIG. 3, we now discuss a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. The only changes in FIG. 3 over FIG. 2a are that (a) resistors Rn and Rp are replaced by resistors Rc so that there are three resistors Rc, all having the same value, and (b) the W/L ratios of MP4 and MP5, and MP6 and MP7 are different. Elements previously discussed are indicated by like numerals and need not be described further.

Note:
MP4:MP5=N:1
MP6:MP7=P:1

[0066] $\begin{array}{cc}{\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP4}}=N·{\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP5}}\Rightarrow \mathrm{I4}=N·\mathrm{I5}& \left(21\right)\\ {\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP6}}=P·{\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP7}}\Rightarrow \mathrm{I6}=P·\mathrm{I7}& \left(22\right)\\ \mathrm{therefore}& \\ V_{\mathrm{REF}}=\left(\mathrm{I5}+\mathrm{I7}\right)·\mathrm{Rc}=\left[\left(\frac{\mathrm{I4}}{N}\right)+\left(\frac{\mathrm{I6}}{P}\right)\right]·\mathrm{Rc}& \\ V_{\mathrm{REF}}=\left(\frac{1}{N}·\frac{V_N}{\mathrm{Rc}}+\frac{1}{P}·\frac{V_P}{\mathrm{Rc}}\right)·\mathrm{Rc}=\frac{V_N}{N}+\frac{V_P}{P}& \\ V_{\mathrm{REF}}=\frac{1}{N}{V}_{\mathrm{BE1}}+\frac{1}{P}{V}_{\mathrm{POS}}& \left(23\right)\end{array}$
After R1, R2, and M are determined, we can choose the ratio of N and P to obtain a V_REF whose temperature dependence becomes negligibly small.

[0067] With reference to circuit 400 of FIG. 4, we now discuss a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. The only changes in FIG. 4 are that (a) resistor Rn is replaced by resistor Rc so that there are two resistors Rc both with the same value, and (b) the W/L ratios of MP4 and MP5 are different. Elements previously discussed are indicated by like numerals and need not be described further.

Note:
MP4:MP5=N:1

[0068] $\begin{array}{cc}{\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP4}}=N·{\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP5}}\Rightarrow \mathrm{I4}=N·\mathrm{I5}& \left(24\right)\\ {\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP6}}={\left(\frac{W}{L}\right)}_{\mathrm{MP7}}\Rightarrow \mathrm{I6}=\mathrm{I7}& \left(25\right)\\ \mathrm{therefore}& \\ V_{\mathrm{REF}}=\left(\mathrm{I5}+\mathrm{I7}\right)\mathrm{Rc}=\left(\frac{\mathrm{I4}}{N}+\mathrm{I6}\right)·\mathrm{Rc}& \\ V_{\mathrm{REF}}=\left(\frac{1}{N}·\frac{V_N}{\mathrm{Rc}}+\frac{V_P}{\mathrm{Rp}}\right)·\mathrm{Rc}& \\ V_{\mathrm{REF}}=\frac{1}{N}{V}_{\mathrm{BE1}}+\left(\frac{\mathrm{Rc}}{\mathrm{Rp}}\right)·V_{\mathrm{POS}}& \left(26\right)\end{array}$
After R1, R2, and M are determined, we can choose the ratio of

[0069] $\frac{1}{N}\mathrm{and}\frac{\mathrm{Rc}}{\mathrm{Rp}}$
to obtain a V_REF whose temperature dependence becomes negligibly small.

[0070] We now describe the method of the invention with reference to FIG. 5:

• [0071] Block 1 provides first and second reference voltages with positive and negative temperature coefficients, respectively.
• [0072] Block 2 provides a first amplifying circuit with a first resistor and a first current source to generate a first current directly proportional to the first reference voltage and the reciprocal of the first resistor.
• [0073] Block 3 provides a second amplifying circuit with a second resistor and a second current source to generate a second current directly proportional to the second reference voltage and the reciprocal of the second resistor.
• [0074] Block 4 creates a bandgap reference voltage independent of temperature by choosing suitable values for the second and first resistor.
• [0075] Block 5 generates the temperature independent bandgap reference voltage by summing the first and the second current in a third resistor.
• [0076] Block 6 selects a fractional, temperature independent bandgap reference voltage by selecting a specific value for the third resistor.

[0077] While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.