NBS TECHNICAL NOTE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE/ National Bureau of Standards

A Schottky Diode Bridge

. Sampling Gate

QC

100

U5753

NO. 11211

1980

c. 2

HHHH
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A Schottky Diode Bridge Sampling Gate

Arnold G. Perrey

Howard K. Schoenwetter

OF WAMVAKUS

UBKART

JUN 1 9 1980 —O.C(oo

Electrosystems Division

Center for Electronics and Electrical Engineering

National Bureau of Standards

Washington. D.C. 20234

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Philip M. Klutznick, Secretary

Luther H. Hodges, Jr., Deputy Secretary

Jordan J. Baruch, Assistant Secretary for Productivity, Technology and Innovation

J, 6- NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, Ernest Annbler, Director

Issued May 1980
National Bureau of Standards Technical Note

Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.). Tech. Note 1121, 18 pages (May 1980) CODEN; NBTNAE

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1980

For .sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402

Stock No. 003-003- Price SI. 50 (Add 25 percent for other than U.S. mailing).
A SCHOTTKY DIODE BRIDGE SAMPLING GATE

Introduction 1

Diode Bridge 2

Gate Pulse Circuit 3

Delayable Gate Pulse Generator 5

Conclusion 5

References 6

m

A Schottky Diode Bridge Sampling Gate

Arnold G. Perrey

Howard K. Schoenwetter

A Schottky diode bridge and associated gating and delay circuits have been designed to facilitate the measurement of low level

signals preceded by large signals without overdriving the measuring instrument. This measurement problem occurs in testing or evaluating operational amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters,

sample/hold amplifiers and other similar active circuits.

Key Words: Diode bridge sampling gates; diode bridge switches;

diode clipping circuits; diode shunt limiters; Schottky diode

bridge; time controlled sampling.

1. Introduction

To determine the performance of operational amplifiers, sample/hold

amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters and other active circuits, it

is often necessary to measure low level voltages in the range of 10 - 1000 yV, preceded by larger signals in the 0.1 - 10 volt range. Amplifiers with high gains must be employed in the instruments (oscilloscope,

A/D converter, etc.) used for these measurements. Hovyever, the large

signals overdrive ("over-load") the amplifier, causing voltage offsets

of varying magnitude and duration in the amplifier output. If these

offsets have not decayed to negligible levels when the low level signals

are measured, erroneous measurements result.

An application which illustrates this measurement problem is the

determination of D/A converter (DAC) settling times, using a sensitive

direct-coupled oscilloscope. In Fig. 1, V(t) represents the transition

between two successive output voltages V-, and V^ from the converter.

The settling of \l{t) to the new level V^ can be examined in considerable

detail if voltage v is shifted to approach zero after the transition at

r time tn , using a precision resistive divider and a reference supply V^

approximately equal to -V2. However, since v = 1/2 (Vn + V(t)), v

is very large prior to t-, and is likely to overdrive the oscilloscope's

input amp! ifier.

Diode clipping circuits, various active circuits, and sampling

switches may be used to prevent overdrive of a measuring instrument. An

example of each type is shown in Fig. 1. If nodes p and a are connected,

Schottky diodes Dl and D2 limit v to less than approximately ±0.6V

(i.e., |vp|<0.6) but have negligible effect on signals smaller than

approximately ±20 mV. Since the diodes have picosecond switching speed

1
and approximately 1 pF capacitance per diode at zero voltage, no serious

recovery or bandwidth problems are inherent in the circuit. If nodes p

and b are connected (instead of p and a), the maximum signal applied to

the oscilloscope is still ±0.6V; however, if the open circuit voltage

V is small, it is amplified by a factor-2Ri/R. Thus, a less sensitive

range of the oscilloscope may be used and overdrive is less likely.

The sampling switch (Circuit C) prevents overdrive of the oscilloscope

through proper timing of the gate pulse which closes the switch. Since

commercial analog switches are capable of holding off input voltages up

to approximately ±10V, the gating voltages generated within the switch

package are necessarily large causing voltage spikes of ~0.5V amplitude

to feed through to the output circuit. Depending upon the oscilloscope

sensitivity and repetition rate, oscilloscope overdrive may result. A

second disadvantage of some sampling switches, such as CMOS types, is

the turn-on and turn-off delays ranging up to approximately 1 ys. The

switch shown in Circuit C can also be used as a shunt switch, connected

between node c and ground. Node c is connected directly to the oscilloscope. This mode of operation has most of the disadvantages of a series

switch as well as requiring a closed (on) resistance which is s/ery much

less than R.

The disadvantage of Circuit A is the small degree of voltage limiting provided. The chief disadvantage of Circuit B and other active

voltage limiting circuits is their relatively long recovery or response

time: typically 2 to 5 ys. The advantage of these circuits over

Circuit C is that they require no gating or timing pulses for their

operation.

A fast response circuit was sought to facilitate the measurement

of low level signals preceded by ^ery large signals. The approach used

and described in the following sections is a combination of circuits A

and C. Input signals are limited to ±0.6V using clipping diodes and

then applied to a sampling switch operable from gating voltages just

large enough to hold off input signals of this magnitude. A gated diode

bridge using Schottky diodes was used for the sampling switch for two

reasons: (1) The switch has high speed; and (2) The complementary gating voltages needed to gate the bridge are small and cause only small

turn-on and turn-off transients in the bridge output.

2. Diode Bridge

The diode bridge and associated circuits are shown in Fig. 2. The

general theory of operation of these circuits is presented elsewhere

[1,2], so the discussion here will be limited to a brief description of

the actual circuits used, and their adjustments.

Clipping diodes Dl and D2 limit the signal applied to the bridge

to +0.6V for input voltages up to tlOV and source resistances greater

than 500 ohms. The diode bridge consists of diodes D3, D4, D5 and D6

gated on and off by complementary pulses received through gating diodes

D7 and D8. When D7 and D8 are reverse biased, the bridge is biased
"on" by a constant current through transistors Ql and Q2. Constant

current sources are used instead of resistors to minimize loading of

the input circuit from dc to 50 kHz, the frequency range of immediate

interest. When D7 and D8 are forward biased, the constant currents

flow through these diodes, and the bridge diodes are reverse biased

(cut off). When the bridge is cut off, the signal voltage fed through

from node f to g is negligible at low frequencies. Above 50 kHz it is

largely determined by the capacitance between these nodes (~1 pF) and

the load capacitance between node g and ground. Schottky type diodes

D1-D8 are used to ensure maximum switching speeds. The capacitance

match for the diodes in the encapsulated matched quad D3-D6 is 0.2 pF.^

Diodes D7 and D8 have the same degree of matching. The forward voltage

drops of the diodes in the matched quad are the same to the extent that

the voltage offset at node g ranges up to about 2 mV when node f is

grounded. Because of the capacitance and forward drop matching of

diodes D3-D8, the spikes fed through to node g will largely cancel each

other, if the gate pulses applied to D7 are the mirror images of those

applied to D8. The means for developing these complementary gate pulses

will be described in the next section. The voltage offset of the bridge

can be compensated by adjusting Rr, so that a small current flows into

the source resistance. Since a source resistance less than 500 ohms is

impractical (i.e., R ^ 1000 ohms in Fig. 1), a current of less than

4 yA from the bridge into the source develops a voltage sufficient to

compensate for the bridge offset.

3. Gate Pulse Circuit

The purpose of the gate pulse circuit (Fig. 3) is to convert unipolar rectangular input pulses (such as TTL logic) into complementary

gate pulses suitable for gating the diode bridge on and off. It con- sists of two cascaded, inverting wide band amplifiers driven through an optically isolated gate. The open collector of the output transistor

of this gate (node d) is loaded with a 1 k^ resistor.

The offset adjustments of ARl and AR2 are made as follows: (1)

ground nodes d and e, adjust R4 for zero output voltage from ARl, and

adjust R5 for zero output from AR2. (2) Unground nodes d and e. Then,

apply a positive dc voltage of about 4V to the input of the optically

isolated gate and adjust R3 for an output voltage of +0.35V from ARl.

(The output from AR2 should be -0.35V). With positive input gate pulses

of 3.5V to 5V, the output voltage excursions from ARl should be between

+0.35V and -0.95V, approximately. The output of AR2 will be the

complement of these values. These drive voltages to the diode bridge

are the minimum excursions that may be used if the input is limited to

Manufacturer's specifications
±0.60V during non-viewing periods (diode bridge reverse biased) and is no larger than 100 mV during the viewing periods. The specified unity

gain settling time to 0.1 percent is 200 ns and 100 ns, respectively, for

ARl and AR2. As configured, the bandwidth is much wider for AR2 than for

ARl so that amplifier AR2 faithfully amplifies the output of ARl by a factor of -1. Thus, the gate pulses applied to D8 from AR2 are the

mirror images of those applied to D7 from ARl. Also, these gating

pulses are the smallest that can be used for proper operation of the

bridge. As mentioned previously, the bridge diodes and gating diodes

(D7 and D8) are matched for forward voltage drop and shunt capacitance.

Therefore, all basic conditions have been met for minimal switching

transients at the bridge output.

The voltage transitions at the output of ARl and AR2, corresponding

to the leading edge of a rectangular voltage pulse applied to the optically isolated gate, are shown in the lower oscilloscope traces of

Fig. 4A. The diode bridge is turned "on" during these transitions and

the switching transient appearing in the bridge output (upper trace)

decays to a 200 yV amplitude within 350 ns after the start of these

transitions. The oscilloscope bandwidth for the lower traces is

200 MHz and is 105 MHz for the upper trace. Since the measured differential delay for these two oscilloscope channels is 20 ns, the transient decay time is somewhat less than shown. Figure 4B is similar to

4A except that the oscilloscope sensitivity has been reduced for the

upper trace. The signal input to the bridge is zero for each of these

photographs. The response of the bridge to input voltage steps such

as V(t) of Fig. 1 is illustrated in Fig. 4C. The first transient in

the tDridge output (upper trace) is caused by capacitive feedthrough

from a to -5V transition (lower trace), applied when the bridge is off.

The second transient is caused mostly by the gating voltages which turn

the bridge on; however the length of this transient is increased

slightly (to about 400 ns) by the -5V pulse, whose trailing edge

approximately coincides with the time of bridge turn-on.

After the bridge has been gated on, its response to rapid input

voltage changes is determined by the RC time constant of the overall

bridge circuit and is typically around 45 ns: 60 pF load capacitance

(oscilloscope, cable and bridge capacitance to ground) and 750 Q series

resistance, including a bridge resistance of -200 ^. The measured temperature coefficient of bridge offset is less than 20 i-iV/°C.

As indicated previously, the capacitance between nodes f and g is

~1 pF when the bridge diodes are cut off. If 60 pF is assumed to be

the load capacitance, the maximum high frequency signal that can feed

2 These values are based on nominal forward drops of 0.25V for diodes

D3-D6 when the bridge is gated on, and 0.35V for diodes D7 and D8

when the bridge is gated off.
through to the oscilloscope is the clipping voltage level (600 mV)

multiplied by the 1/60 capacitance divider ratio, which is 10 mV. This

feedthrough level is too small to overdrive the oscilloscope in most

practical applications of the bridge.

The diode bridge and gate pulse circuit were first operated with a delayable gate pulse generator designed at NBS and briefly described in

the next section. This circuit is inexpensive to construct and satisfactory for many applications. Later, for convenience and general

utility, the diode and gate pulse circuit were packaged in a module that

plugs into a commercial mainframe containing a triggerable pulse generator. The commercial pulse generator has characteristics similar to the

NBS delayable gate pulse generator. Figure 5 shows the module and the

mainframe in which it is used. The gate pulse circuit is driven from

the triggerable pulse generator, shown mounted in the mainframe.

4. Delayable Gate Pulse Generator

This circuit (Fig. 6) generates rectangular pulses which are applied to the gate pulse circuit and are delayed relative to the synchronization pulses used to trigger the oscilloscope. The delays and

widths ("window" size) of the gate pulses are essentially continuously

adjustable to facilitate use of oscilloscope sweep speeds ranging approximately from 10 ns/division to 1 ms/division.

The delay circuit consists of short, medium and long time delay

function blocks. A simplified schematic diagram of the delay and window

circuits is shown in Fig. 7. The short time delay utilizes the propagation delay of integrated logic gates and employs cascaded NOR gates to

develop up to 200 ns delay in increments of 20 ns. The medium time delay is a monostable multivibrator whose output pulse length (delay) is

adjustable by means of Rl from 100 ns to 1.5 ys. The long time delay

circuit employs a 555 type of integrated circuit timer and has a pulse

length (delay) adjustable by means of R2 from 1 ys to 10 ys. The long

time delay circuit is driven from the medium delay circuit via a monostable multivibrator with fixed pulse length.

The circuit which determines the window size is similar to the long

time delay circuit and its drive circuit, except that the pulse width

(window size) is adjustable from 5 ys to 5 ms in 3 ranges using capacitors CI through C3 in conjunction with R3.

5. Conclusion

A Schottky diode bridge and associated gating and delay circuits

have been described which facilitate the measurement of low level

signals preceded by large signals without overdriving the measuring

instrument.

The diode bridge is well suited for making measurements using a wideband oscilloscope with vertical deflection sensitivities as high as

1 mV/cm. Therefore, the amplitude of rapidly varying signals can be

5
measured to within 100 yV. When the bridge is gated on, the transient

at its output is less than 8 mV and decays to 200 yV in less than

400 ns. When the bridge is gated off, high frequency feedthrough is

less than 10 mV. This is too small to overdrive the oscilloscope in

most practical applications of the bridge. The measured temperature

offset of the bridge is less than 20 yV/°C.

5. References

[1] G. A. Korn and Theresa M. K. Korn, Electronic Analog Computers , McGraw-Hill , Inc. , 1964.

[2] Analog Devices, Inc., Norwood, Mass., Nonl inear Circuits

Handbook, 1976.
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Figure 4(a)

The switching transient (upper trace) at output of diode bridge

when it is turned "on" by the gating voltages (lower traces).

Same

Figure 4(b)

as 4(d) except for lower scope sensitivity on upper trace,

10
Figure 4 (c)

Bridge output response (upper trace) to

-5V input pulse (lower trace). Bridge

turn-on coincides approximately with the

-5V to OV transition.

11
Figure 5. Module of diode bridge and gate pulse circuits and the mainframe

in which it is used.

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Figure 7 Schematic diagram of delay and window circuits

14
NBS>114A tREV. 9-78)

U.S. DEPT. OF COMM. 2.Gov*i AeeewfM tto. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

SHEET

1. PUBLICATION OR REPORT NO. NBS TN 1121

iiiiiriii i iiiiiii mi n irj ij 3. R«d||!tasf$

^

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

A Schottky Diode Bridge Sampling Gate

5. Publication Date May 1980

^T^SW

7. AUTHOR(S)

Arnold G. Perrey and Howard K. Schoenwetter

8. Performing Organ. Report No.

9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, DC 20234

ftow

11. Contract/Grant No.

12. SPONSORING ORGANIZATION NAME AND COMPLETE ADDRESS fSfree*, city, state. ZIP)

Same as item 9

13. Type of Report & Period Covered Final

U,il>metimm^^io^ :''

'""'^''^

'

15, SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

I I Document describes a computer program; SF-185, FIPS Software Summary, is attached.

16. ABSTRACT (A 200-word or leaa factual Bummary ot moat aigniticant information. If document includes a significant bibliography or

literature survey, mention it here.) A Schottky diode bridge and associated gating and delay circuits have been designed

to facilitate the measurement of low level signals preceded by large signals without

overdriving the measuring instrument. This measurement problem occurs in testing

or evaluating operational amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters, sample/hold

amplifiers and other similar active circuits.

17. KEY WORDS (aix to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only the first letter of the firat key word unleea a proper name;

separated by aemicolona) j.j t* • • *j. Diode bridge sampling gates; diode bridge switches; diode clipping circuits;

diode shunt limiters; Schottky diode bridge; time controlled sampling

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