1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to integrated circuit design, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for reducing noise in a switched capacitor amplifier circuit sampling a reference voltage.
2. Related Art
Amplifier circuits (amplifiers) are often employed to amplify signals. In general, an amplifier amplifies an input signal and provides the amplified signal as an output signal. A switched capacitor amplifier is a type of amplifier circuit, which contains operational amplifier(s) (op-amp), switches and capacitors driven by clock signals. The switches are operated to control the connections and attain the desired amplification, as is well known in the relevant arts.
Switched capacitor amplifiers are used in various environments, and a analog to digital converter (ADC) represents an example apparatus in which switched capacitor amplifiers are implemented. An example ADC implementing a switched capacitor amplifier is described below with reference to
SHA 110 samples input signal received on path 134 and holds the voltage level of the sample for further processing. Each stage 120-1 through 120-S generates a sub-code corresponding to a voltage level of an analog signal received as an input, and an amplified residue signal as an input to a (any) next stage. Digital error correction block 130 receives sub-codes from various stages, and generates a digital code (on path 146) corresponding to the sample received on path 134.
Subtractor 270 generates a residue signal as the difference of sample 111 (Vi) and the analog signal received on path 267 (Vdac). Gain amplifier 280 amplifies the residue signal (Vi−Vdac), which is provided on path 112 as an amplified residue signal. The signal on path 112 is used to resolve the remaining bits in the N-bit digital code by the subsequent ADC stages.
Subtractor, DAC, and gain amplifier may be implemented using a capacitor network and an operational amplifier together operating as a switched capacitor amplifier. One prior switched capacitor amplifier implementing substracter 270, DAC 260, and gain amplifier 280 of stage 120-1 is described below with respect to
The circuit in
Capacitors 321 and 331 are charged to store a charge proportionate to the differential input signal received on paths 310 and 340 (due to the closing of switches 311 and 341). Capacitors 323 and 333 discharges the charges accumulated (e.g., from a previous phase operation) due to closing of switches 313, 314, 343, and 344.
Capacitors 321 and 331 discharge (pump) a charge proportionate to difference of sampled voltage and reference voltage (residue signal) into capacitors 323 and 333 respectively. Due to the operation of switches 315 and 345, voltage developed across capacitors 323 and 333 appears at the output terminals 360 and 390 respectively. The ratio of the capacitance values of feed back capacitor and sampling capacitor determines the amplification factor (gain) of the residue signal (from the principle Q=CV). The amplified residue signal is provided to next stage (120-2) on path 112.
One recognized disadvantage with approach described above is that the common mode
voltage (well known in relevant art) at the input of op-amp 355 may potentially be different during phase 1 and phase 2, if sources (not shown) of input (310, 340) and reference voltages (REFP and REFM) connected to the capacitors (321,331) have different common mode voltages. As a result, the operating point (bias point) of the operational amplifier may drift from phase 1 operation to phase 2 operation resulting in a error or non-linearity in the digital bits generated.
In one prior approach, such an error/non-linearity is reduced by ensuring the common mode voltage of reference signal (between time point 391-392) equals the common mode voltage of input signal sampled between corresponding time points (371-372). However, such equality of common mode voltages may not be obtained under various operating conditions. For example, the common mode voltage of input signal may dynamically vary on the time scale based on the nature of the input signal being sampled.
Accordingly, the input signal and the reference voltages may be sampled together to reduce the error/non-linearity due to the difference in common mode voltage. One prior embodiment sampling both input signal and the reference voltages is described below with reference to
Circuit 400 operates in two phases according to clock signals 370 and 390 shown in
Due to such connections, each of capacitors 421 and 431 store a charge proportionate to the sampled differential input signal (as desired and noted above), each of capacitors 461 and 462 stores a charge proportionate to the reference voltage (REFP and REFM), and each of capacitors 423 and 433 discharges any (residue) charge accumulated in the previous phase of operation.
The output voltage generated at the output of op-amp 450 is given by:
wherein Cs1 represents the capacitance value of each capacitor 421 and 431, Cs2 represents the capacitance value of each capacitor 461 and 462, and Cf represents the capacitance value of each capacitor 423 and 433. Vout in Equation 1 represents an amplified residue signal provided to stage 120-2 on path 112 at time point 392.
As may be appreciated from the above, the common mode voltage at the input of amplifier remains same in both phase 1 and phase 2 since capacitor pairs 461/462 and 421/422 maintain the same common mode at their respective inputs. This in turn is because capacitors 421 and 422 sample input during phase1 and are shorted during phase2. The same applies for capacitors 461 and 462 also. In contrast, in the embodiments of
Continuing with reference to
However, due to addition of capacitors 461 and 462, additional noise is introduced by a stage implementing the switched capacitor amplifier of circuit 400. Accordingly, the noise power generated by the circuit of
wherein α represents a ratio of trans-conductance of all noise contributing transistors in the amplifier (not shown in the figures) to trans-conductance of input transistors of the amplifier, CL represents the total load at the output of the amplifier, VNref represents the noise in the reference voltage, G represents a loop gain of the amplifier (equal to a ratio of the capacitance values of feedback capacitor to sampling capacitor (421 and 431), K represents a Boltzmann constant, T represents ambient temperature, (as is well known in the relevant arts) and β represents a feedback factor of op-amp and equals a ratio of capacitance value of feedback capacitor to sum of the capacitance values of all the capacitor connected to input terminals of the op-amp given by:
wherein CPIN represents a total parasitic capacitor at the input of op-amp.
From Equation (2) above, the noise due to capacitors 461 and 462 can be reduced by reducing CS2 and/or by increasing β. However, for reducing Cs2 without affecting the transfer function (Equation 1), the reference voltage VREF=REFP−REFM will have to be increased, which may not be possible due to supply voltage limitations.
Hence what is needed is a method and apparatus for reducing noise in a switched capacitor amplifier circuit sampling a reference voltage.
The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are described below briefly.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.
1. Overview
An aspect of the present invention ensures that (substantially) equal common mode voltage is present at the input terminals of an operational amplifier (amplifying the residue signal in a stage of an ADC in two phases) while reducing the noise introduced into the amplified signal. Such a features is obtained by using a first reference capacitor which is coupled between an input terminal of the operational amplifier and a reference voltage in a first phase, and between the input terminal and the reference voltage but with opposite polarity in the second phase.
Several aspects of the invention are described below with reference to examples for illustration. It should be understood that numerous specific details, relationships, and methods are set forth to provide a full understanding of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art, however, will readily recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, etc. In other instances, well known structures or operations are not shown in detail to avoid obscuring the features of the invention.
2. Example Circuit
Similar to operation of circuit 400, circuit 500 operates in two phases according to clock signals 370 and 390 shown in
Due to such connections, each of capacitors 521 and 531 stores a charge proportionate to the sampled differential input signal, each of capacitors 571 and 572 stores a charge proportionate to the reference voltage (REFP and REFM), and each of capacitors 523 and 533 discharges any (residue) charge accumulated in the previous phase of operation.
As a result, charges stored in the capacitors 521, 571, 531 and 572 are transferred to feedback capacitors 523 and 533. The output voltage generated at the output of op-amp 450 due to opposite connection is given by:
wherein each of the terms of Equation (4) have been defined in Equation (1) above. Factor 2 in equation 4 is due to the operation of switches 561 and 562 connecting the capacitor terminals to opposite reference voltages.
It may be appreciated that capacitance value Cs2 may be reduced by half to obtain the output of the same magnitude of Equation 1. Such a reduction in the capacitance value reduces the noise contribution of the switched capacitor amplifier. The reduced noise measured at the input is given by:
wherein each of the terms of Equation (5) have been defined in Equation (2) above. It may be appreciate that the factor 2 appearing in denominator of a number of terms in equation 5 confirms the reduction in noise, as desired.
Further increase in the (β) feedback factor of op-amp is given by
The increase in (β) further decreases the noise value of equation 5. From the description above, we can obtain the performance of Equation (1) by connecting capacitors 571 and 572, each having a value Cs2/2, thereby reducing the size and power consumption (in addition to noise) of ADCs.
The switched capacitors amplifier circuits (and ADCs containing such circuits) thus implemented can be used in several types of devices and systems. An example system in which such circuits are implemented is described below in further detail.
3. Device
Receiver system 600 is shown containing low noise amplifiers (LNA) 610, mixer 620, filter circuit 660, analog to digital converter (ADC) 670, and processor 680. Each block/stage is described in further detail below.
LNA 610 receives signals on path 601 and amplifies the received signals to generate a corresponding amplified signal on path 612. For example, in wireless systems, the signals that are transmitted from satellites, etc. may be received by an antenna (not shown) and the received signals are provided on path 601. The received signals may be weak in strength and thus amplified by LNA 610 for further processing. LNA 610 may be implemented in a known way.
Mixer 620 may be used to down-convert the received amplified signal on path 612 into an intermediate signal with the frequency band of interest centered at a lower frequency than the carrier frequency of the received signal. In an embodiment, a signal with the frequency band of interest centered at 2.4 GHZ (carrier frequency) is converted to a signal with the frequency band of interest centered at zero frequency.
Mixer 620 may receive the amplified signal on path 612 and a signal of fixed frequency on path 622 as inputs, and provides the intermediate signal on path 626. The signal of fixed frequency on path 622 may be generated by a phase locked loop (not shown) in a known way.
Filter circuit 660 may correspond to a low pass filter, which allows the desired low frequencies and rejects all other unwanted high frequencies present in the signal received on line 626. The filtered signal, which contains the frequency band of interest, is provided on path 667.
ADC 670 converts (samples) the filtered signal received on path 667 to a corresponding digital value, which represents the signal of interest in received signal 601. Processor 680 processes the received digital values to provide various user applications and may be implemented as multiple processing units, each potentially operating independently. ADC 670 may be implemented according to various aspects of the present invention described in above sections.
4. Conclusion
While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.
The present application claims priority from the co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Entitled, “Technique to sample reference voltage to reduce thermal noise in switched capacitor amplifiers”, Ser. No. 60/601,900, Filed: Aug. 16, 2004, naming the same inventors as in the present application, attorney docket number: TI-38950PS, and is incorporated in its entirety herewith.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60601900 | Aug 2004 | US |