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COY.

RESPONDE
NCE 233

TO FLIP-FLOP curve b the write speed limit of s 30 ns is reached at much


NODE ~ smaller quiescent cell current. In an actual array, the current
VRFF BIT LINE ,
withdrawal from the other cells is harmless as these would
keep their information even under total power off for much
longer times than the write time,l
(a) The read performance is not noticeably affected by the self-
powering because of the much smaller read time period. The
read delay was measured as in footnotel ( 100-mV output sig-
nal) but with smaller load capacitance (s 6 pF) simulating the

load of 32 of such smaller cells on a column of 32 X 32-bit
. f.
1 I I
array.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
b--q
The authors wish to thank P. Gansauge, K, Kroell, and F.
Seidenschwann for their excellent work in developing the -4=.-J
process.
(b)

On the Transient Response of Emitter Followers

ARPAD BARNA
w

Afr.sfracf-Trsnsient response of emitter followers is analyzed


10 100 1000 incorporating the effects of collector-base and load capacitances,
CELL CURRENT ICELL (MICROAMPERES) gain-bandwidth product, excess delay, arrd base, collector, and
load resistances. Basic considerations pertaining to transient
Fig. 3, (a,) Schematical cross section of the device region T~/T~h.ving a, buried
layer only under tk,e emitter region P,. Thus .Dit.wia,lscries resistsmce~ become response and instabilities are discussed, and numerical results
effective in the co~lector of T, and in tbe base of l~, (b) Equivalent circuit of are given for a wide range of circuit parameters.
the region shownm (a,)and measured wrote current versus cell current.
1, INTRODUCTION
One of the basic circuit configurations in present day high-
speed circuits is the emitter follower. In addition to its use as
a buffer, it also forms the basis for current-mode logic circuits.
1000 I \ I I
In these and many other applications, transient response and

I 1. stability are of paramount importance. Spontaneous oscillations
:
/
~a~R,;E\xO in emitter followers are rarely acceptable, and ringing during
\ADELAV-
\
\ ,
the transitions in a current-mode switching circuit can lead
to significant deterioration of performance. In order to account
for all phenomena, it is usually necessary to include effects that
\ \.
100 are outside the emitter follower itself, such as feedback from
A \ ,
other stages via power supply, stray capacitances, and, in
READ\ / .i O---%-. integrated circuits, also viasubstrate and isolation capacitances.
>L If all such effects are considered, it is possibleat least in
DELAY
principle-to obtain the exact transient response. As more effects
i u 1 are taken into account, however, more variables result and
lo~? I --A tradeoff considerations become more difficult. Thus, there is
0.1 12 5 10 100 some merit in restricting attention to a few major phenomena
in order to attain an understanding of the gross features.
1 CELL (MlCft0i4MpEREs) The approach followed here uses a simple model to demon-
Fig, 4, Read and write del~ys versus Quiescent cell current. Writ. delay curve strate the effects of various components on the transient re-
(.) f.rconstant current suDply and (b) for.onsLnnt voltage suuply. sponse. It will be seen that the source resistance and the load
capacitance can increase the overshoot and ringing in the
step function response to over 70 percent. Although the model
Fig. 4 shows read and write delays versus cell current. The
different write delay curves a and b aredue to different power
supply conditions.
Curve a is valid for a constant current individually sup-
plied to the cell. However, in a large array with a large number
of cells supplied in parallel by a constant current, the power
supply for the individual cell being written appears nearly as
1
1Cc
Rc

a constant voltage (current can be withdrawn from other J-


%
cells). This condition was simulated by a capacitor at Z (Fig.
1). With this capacitor, the much better performance ac-
cording to curve b was measuted. This is due to an internal
yn
tsEy
-IV
powering (self-powering) of the cell. It is clear from the inset
of Fig. 3(b) that the initial write current Iw will cause a
voltage drop at resistor l?., so that the base potential of T,, +
1$ Q+
T, moves down. This, with constant supply voltage, causes
the cell current to increase and so does the write current.
Fig. 1. Emitter- fcdlowercimuit. IL--l
x
Thus an internal feedback mechanism turns on until the Mansoript received october 17, 1972; revised November 15, 1972.
saturation of TC hrnlts the currents. This explains why with The a,uthm is with the Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, Calif.
w
234 IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, JUNE 1973

D=O
Parameters: (Rc[Rg, 27rfTRgcc)
50

/.
20
iR(t)i *O?
Q._.-L. _Q
r, 27rfTre re 10 +$., *,O
*O $ a ~ ,, ,>
& QQ * &
@

I
Q 5
v 0,1 0.2 0.5 I 2 5 10
2mfTRgCL

Fig. 2. f%dl-si~nal tm,nsiatormodelused in the circuit of Fig. 1,


(a)

m
--p---l 50 2TfTD= I

%
20 0.5

0
10

2rrfTRgCi

(b)
Fig. 3, Overshoot and ringing in percenta with C. = Oand RL = co.

m
1o11
D=O

50

%
20 >@
~v,+
10 ,0 @
~
. ~,o
0
5
0.1 0.2 0,5 1 2 5 10
27TfTRgCL (c)

---&i:,
(a)
Fig. 5. Overshoot snd ringing in Dercents with RL = cc and with R./RO and
2rfTRoC, as f)arameters (a,)
D = O, (b) 2,T@ = 0,5,and (c)2+D = 1.

-J-lJ! ceptable.1 In what follows, the overshoot and ringing of the


small-signal step function response is examined as a function
of various circuit parameters.

11, rHE CIRCUIT


The emitter-follower circuit used for the computation of
transients is shown in Fig. 1 and its small-signal transistor model
in Fig. 2. It is assumed that the transistor operates in its forward
active region and that its ohmic base resistance is included in R,,
its ohmic collector resistance in R., and its collector-to-base
capacitance in Co. An h~~ >> 1 is assumed; emitter resistance
~, = nkT/qI~d., where 1~~, is the de emitter current and 1 <
n < 2. Parameters governing the speed of the transistor are
represented by gaimbandwidth llroduct ~~ and excess delay D.
When the excess delay can be neglected, collector current i, is
not delayed and diffusion capacitance Cd = 1/(2rrj~r@). When
excess delay D # O, Cd is reduced to result in a constant jr.z In
real high-frequency transistors 2rrj~D~ 0.5, while the limit@g
case of 27r~~D= 1 implies a pure delay and results in Cd = O.

III. TRATWIENTR~SPO~SE
The small-signal transient response for a step function input
was computed numerically in the time domain for various
27rfTRgCL combinations of parameters.s In the simplest case when C. =

I
v

Fig.4.
(c)
Ovemhoot and ringing in percent, with C, = Oand with R. /Rg w IMrmn.
O and R,, = m (current source), the transient is determined
by R,, C,, f,, and D. The results, depicted in Fig. 3, show
that for a given f. the overshoot and ringing increase with
u---[ et.,. (a) D = O, (b) 2,TfrD = 0.5, and (o) 2wfTD = 1.
increasing R,, CL, and D, Thus, it is desirable to minimize

.EL-J
x
does not account for instabilities (oscillations), a circuit that
has this much ringing can become unstable with very little
1 While the, 10 pm-cent number is arbitrary, the principle is ana,logow to wttinz
a phase rmmgm ?n a feedback system.
z The convent,mml measurement of gain bandwidth Dmduct fT is assumed hem,
external feedback, Thus, in order to keep the circuit safe in which the, current amplification is multiplied hy the frequency of the mea,mre-
from oscillations, it is desirable to set a limitsay 10 per- ment which IS much less than fT.
3 The cmnmt ations used modified Euler method with Ii PC AD, Fortm.n IV,
centon the amount of overshoot and ringing that is ac- and Algol pmgra,ms
CORRESPONDENCE 235

these parameters. Unfortunately, R, is always at least as a multiplexer, where dynamic offset elimination can be imple-
large as the ohmic base resistance and C,, cannot be reduced mented between multiplexer cycles. .41s0, significant cost sav-
below external stray capacitances. When the overshoot and ings can be realized from a reduced number of potentiometer
ringing resulting for a set of R,, C~,, f~, and D are not ac- adjustments required both at time of manufacture and during
ceptable, other means of improvement have to be investigated. field maintenance. Solutions to the remaining technical, per-
When R,, can be made comparable to or smaller than R,, formance, and implementation problems are discussed later.
significant improvements result, as shown in Fig. 4. These are,
DIFFERENTIAL AMPLIFIER OPERATION
however, not applicable when the de emitter current is sup-
plied by a current source and l?. has to remain large. In such The differential zero-correction amplifier circuit is shown in
cases two additional methods of improving the transient re- Fig. 1. The circuit operates with a sequence of two switch-
/
b--+

sponse are available. One of these inserts between the emitter controlled intervals. Amplifier operation begins with initiation
and ground a. series RC network. Unfortunately, the capaci- of the error storage cycle by opening switches S6S9 and clos-
tances required (typically 10100 pF) are not practical in ing switches S1S5, During this interval, the difference of the
integrated circuits.4 The other method utilizes C. and R. for
the improvement of the transient response as shown in Fig. 5.
When C. = O, R. has no effect on the transient, otherwise
amplifiers equivalent input offset voltages is amplified by the
first amplifier A and stored by the sample-and-hold circuitry
formed by capacitor C and amplifier K. The ~mplification cycle
J+--J
increasing C. and R. reduce the magnitude of overshoot and is later initiated by opening switches S1S5 and closing switches
ringing. S6-S9 allowing normal amplification of the input voltages W
It should be noted that the reduction in overshoot and and V2.
ringing is accompanied by an increase in rise time, which is The correction voltage, stored on capacitor C, is also applied
not computed here. Thus, if fast rise time is of importance, to the amplifier through the output of tmplifier K and cancels
the designer has to aim at a reasonable, rather than minimum, the output voltage components caused by the amplifier offset
overshoot and ringing. voltages. Injection of this correction voltage allows the normal
amplification of the input voltages without errors being intro-
4 This method is discussed in A. Barna,, Ilig&Spe.d Ptdw Circuits. New York:
duced by the offset voltages.
Wiley-lnterscience, 1970. Application of the correction voltage to an input point after
the first stage or stages of the amplifier allows the error voltage
stored by the sample-and-hold to be relatively large compared
A Differential Zero-Correction Amplifier to the case where the error voltage is applied directly to the
input of the first stage. Equivalent input errors cans?d by
RICHARD C. JAEGER AND GEORGE A. HELLWARTH sample-and-hold circuit inaccuracies arc significantly reduced.
Examination of the offset formulas given in Fig. 1 yields the
desirable amplifier gains. Amplifier B should have very high
AbstractThe maintenance of a constant equivalent input gain to reduce the corrected offset m much as possible. Ampli-
offset voltage with time and temperature is one of the most difficult fier A gain should be chosen to yield a large value of Vc com-
problems in direct-coupled amplifiers. An improved zero-correction mensurate with amplifier capabilities, and the nmplifier must
technique is used to realize a differential amplifier with a very low operate in its linear region when the overall feedback loop is
opened, The closed-loop gain G of amplifier K is chosen near
input offset voltage.
unity so as not to negate the advantages of applying the cor-
Direct-coupled amplifiers have as one of their most dif- rection voltage after the first stage of the amplifier,
ficult performo.nce problems the maintenance of a constant W*
Key to the realization of the differential zero-correction
input offset voltage and offset current over periods of time
amplifier is the ability to operate the amplifier consisting of
and changing temperatures. Goldberg [1], [2] accomplished -~,.
stages A and B of Fig. 1 with unity common-mode gain but
control of de amplifier input drift by a periodically operated
with full open-loop differential gain. Note that only a single
switch or modulator at the input of an amplifier, an auxiliary
correction voltage is required to provide zero correction for
at-coupled amplifier, and a demodulator switch and filter.
the amplifier.
This produced a de correction signal reinserted into the
amplifiers input, Prinz [3] and others later proposed operat- AMPLIFIER STABIIJZATION
ing switches synchronously between the cycles of a multi- Each mode of amplitkr operation has two feedback loops
plexer or analog-to-digital converter such as found in a data that must be stable. The required conditions are obtained by
acquisition system. With this technique, the switches and studying the common-mode and differential-mode gain equa-
demodulation filter of Goldberg are altered into a measure- tions for each cycle, The results are given in Table 1. Using
and-hold circuit, The circuit measures the magnitude of the Bode or iYyquist techniques, frequency compensation networks
input offset with the amplifier input short ed by a switch. may be determined that yield amplifier stability.
The correction voltage is held and inserted at the amplifier
inpwt during the normal operation of the amp] ifier. Offner PRACTICAL ~ EALIZATION
[4] applied a drift correction signal to an inner stage of a Fig, 2 shows one implementation of the differential zcro-
multistage amplifier. correction amplifier using bipolar transistors in the input, stage
The techniques have various practical or implementation and 741-type operational amplifiers elsewhere. Several changes
problems. The Goldberg technique produces carrier-frequency are included in the amplifier of Fig. 2. During the correction
noise from the switches and has a slow recovery from overload. cycle, it is not necessary to C1OSCthe feedback loop to the center
Other methods suffer from errors in the sample-and-hold cir- of the resistor string formed by R1 and R2 thus saving a
cuit or from feedback instability during the correction cycle. switch and precision resistor. The collectors of the input pre-
In general, the techniques have not been applied to high- amplifiers are cross coupled to provide full differential correc-
perforrnance de amplifiers with full differential input capa- tion to the amplifier and to retain the balance necessary for
bility. good common-mode rejection ratio. Error correction is injected, !
Since rapid technological advances have occurred in inte- as a current, to taps on the collector resistors of the differential
grated circuit amplifiers and components, the need for zero transistor preamplifiers. The switches S1S9 are implemented
stabilization has subsided somewhat. Howeverj a need still using low {on resistance MOS field-effect transistors. .4 pair of
exists to provide the highest possible performance for data
acquisition applications. In many data acquisition applications,
an amplifier and analog-to-digital converter are operated from
junction field-effect transistors, a capacitor, and a MOSFET
form the sample-and-hold circuit, If the additional open-loop
gain provided by the preaml]lifiers is not necessary, they may
IL_!,
be omitted. The correction signal can then be injected directly
Manuscript rweived September !3,1972; revised January 12, 1973 into the cross-coupled offset adjustment ports of the opera-
The a,uthors are with the IBM Corporation, Boca Raton, F]., tional amplifiers [6].

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