Abstract:
An integrated voltage controlled current source device is provided, that extends the high accuracy, low drift output current over a large current range, and provides more headroom and better power efficiency than the standard shunt resistor and INA (instrumentation amplifier) current source arrangement. The device has a control voltage input, a load current output and a current set terminal for a connection of a current set resistor. It contains a selected leg biasing set voltage, corresponding to a control voltage applied to the control voltage input of a regulating driver amplifier providing a regulated voltage to be applied across the current set resistor, thereby causing a reference current to flow through the current set resistor and selected leg(s) of a current mirror. Furthermore, the device contains a dynamically matched current mirror that mirrors the reference current to the load output current. The algorithm for selecting the current mirror legs may be a pseudo-random or a defined pattern.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates to a voltage controlled current source device, in particular with an integrated circuit.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Voltage controlled current source applications typically use a shunt resistor in series with the output load to sense the load current. The load current is fed to an instrumentation amplifier (INA) to measure the voltage drop across the shunt resistor and to feed it back to the input, thereby closing the control loop.  
         [0003]     With this approach, which is widely used, to achieve good accuracy both the (shunt) resistor and the INA must have high accuracy and low drift. This leads to additional cost and board space. Furthermore, the voltage drop across the shunt resistor reduces the voltage headroom to the load and the power efficiency. In addition, the range of the current for an accurate output is limited. For small current levels through the shunt resistor, errors of the INA dominate; whereas, for large current levels, the voltage headroom and power efficiency to the load are reduced. As the potential at the load can change significantly, the INA must have a high common mode rejection which requires a trim of the common mode rejection ratio (CMRR). Finally, due to multiple stages of the feedback loop, an additional compensation is necessary. This requires the application to be overcompensated, which leads to a reduced performance.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     The invention provides a voltage controlled current source device that overcomes the aforementioned limitations.  
         [0005]     Specifically, a voltage controlled current source device is provided, in particular with an integrated circuit, that has a control voltage input and a load current output. The device comprises a current set terminal for a connection of a current set resistor. It contains a selected leg gate biasing set voltage, corresponding to a control voltage applied to the control voltage input of a regulating driver amplifier providing a regulated voltage to be applied across the current set resistor, thereby causing a reference current to flow through the current set resistor and selected leg(s) of a current mirror. Furthermore, the device contains a current mirror that mirrors the reference current from the selected leg(s) of the current mirror to the load output current.  
         [0006]     As the reference current is mirrored to the load in a feed-forward arrangement, in particular via a dynamically matched current mirror, there is no need for a current control loop with a shunt resistor and an instrumentation amplifier (INA). In particular, a dynamic element matching approach employed in the current mirror ensures high accuracy throughout a large range of the output current. Limitations to the voltage headroom or power efficiency at high output currents are eliminated. Although the driver which determines the current forced through the current set resistor preferably includes an operational amplifier which is part of a closed control loop, the feedback loop is short, which leads to a fast application. Typically, no additional (external) compensation is required for that loop.  
         [0007]     In an embodiment, the current mirror includes multiple current sources all having the same gate bias supplied by said driver. At least one of the current sources is connected to supply the reference current to the current set resistor. Furthermore, all other current sources are connected to mirror the reference current to the load current output.  
         [0008]     In a more detailed implementation, a clock-controlled switching arrangement is provided that cycles the at least one current source, connected to supply the reference current, through all of the current sources in the current mirror. This cycling can be done pseudo-randomly or following a certain pattern, e.g., to make sure that all current sources are selected a substantially equal number of times.  
         [0009]     For an application that requires positive or negative current output from the same device, the multiple current sources are divided into a first group and into a second group of current sources, wherein at least one current source of each group is connected to supply said reference current to said current set resistor. All other current sources within each group of current sources can be connected in such a way that they mirror the reference current to the load current output. The current sources of the first group are of p-type and the current sources of the second group are of n-type. A clock-controlled switching arrangement cycles the connection of the at least one current source of each group to supply the reference current through all of the current sources of the respective group.  
         [0010]     In a further embodiment the ratio between the number of the at least one current source and the number of all the other current sources is adjustable, e.g., by pre-selection or dynamically. This allows to adjust the ratio of the current gain of the current mirror.  
         [0011]     For applications that require a high output voltage or high impedance, the reference current is supplied to the current set resistor through an input cascode arrangement and the load output current is supplied to the load current terminal through an output cascode arrangement. The transistors in the current mirror legs may be cascoded or degenerated by corresponding resistors to increase impedance and decrease the variability of the output current .  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     Example embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a voltage controlled current source device;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  shows an example circuit embodiment with a plurality of current sources;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  shows the device with a current mirror arrangement in more detail;  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  shows details of the switching arrangement for selectively switching a particular current source either to a set terminal or to a driver terminal;  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a chart that shows the timing of a switching arrangement; and  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a state machine representation of a complete cycle of the switching arrangement. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS  
       [0019]     With reference to  FIG. 1 , an example integrated circuit implementation of a voltage controlled current source device comprises a current set resistor RSET, a current mirror block  101 , a driver including an operational amplifier  102  with a negative and a positive input and an output. The current set resistor RSET may be off-chip or on-chip as part of the integrated circuit. The current set resistor RSET is connected across the negative input of the amplifier  102  and ground GND or, as an alternative, another reference voltage instead of ground GND. A control voltage Vin is applied to the positive input of the amplifier  102 . The current mirror block  101  has a first output connected to the negative input of the amplifier  102  and a second output connected to a load  103 . The output of the amplifier  102  provides a gate control voltage to the current mirror block  101 .  
         [0020]     The current mirror block  101  comprises multiple current sources, all having the same gate bias supplied by the output of amplifier  102 . At any time, at least one of the current sources of the current mirror block  101  is connected to supply the reference current to the current set resistor RSET. All other current sources of the current mirror  101  are connected to mirror the reference current to the load current output towards the load  103 . Thus, the current mirror  101  provides a current gain ratio based on the number of current sources connected to supply the reference current to the current set resistor RSET and based on the number of current sources connected to mirror the reference current towards the load  103 . In the example shown, a ratio of 1:X means that a total of 1+X current sources are provided; wherein one current source is connected to supply the reference current to the current set resistor RSET and X current sources are connected to mirror the current to the load current output. It is to be noted that with regard to the ratio “1:X”, “X” does not need to be an integer and/or “1” does not need to mean “one” current source only. In other words, implementations with a ratio of “3:10”, “4:20”, “8:2”, etc., are also possible.  
         [0021]     In a preferred embodiment, to increase the accuracy for the current mirror, a method of dynamic element matching is applied. This is achieved by providing a clock-controlled switching arrangement which cycles the (at least one) current source connected to supply the reference current through all of the current sources of the current mirror. Transistor mismatch due to process variation can be significantly reduced by providing X+I identical transistors as current sources and periodically switching (permutating) the selection of transistors that are actually connected to each side of the current mirror. The patterning, cycling among transistors can be done pseudo-randomly or following a definite pattern, e.g., to make sure that all current sources are selected a substantially equal number of times.  
         [0022]      FIG. 2  shows an exemplary circuit with multiple current sources M 1 , . . . , M N+1 . The current sources are PMOS transistors, the Sources of which are connected to a positive power supply rail. The Gates of the current sources are connected with each other and with a bias source. A current output I OUT  or a current input I IN  can be connected to the Drain of each PMOS transistor. Such connection is controlled by a switch control  201 . Hence, each PMOS transistor has two switches SW A  and SW B  in series with its Drain, that allow the Drain to be connected to either the input mirror leg or the output mirror leg.  
         [0023]      FIG. 3  shows the device with a current mirror arrangement in more detail. It comprises a current set resistor RSET, an operational amplifier  301  with a positive input, a negative input and an output, a class AB gate driver  302  (with an input and outputs, selected leg gate biasing set voltages,  303  and  304 ), switching arrangements  305  (with input SET 1  and output DRV 1 ) and  306  (with input SET 2  and output DRV 2 ), PMOS transistors  307  to  312 , NMOS transistors  313  to  318  and cascode arrangements  319  and  320  for selected input legs and selected output legs, respectively, of the current mirror. So for applications that require a high output voltage or high impedance, the transistors  307  to  312  in the current mirror legs may be cascoded or degenerated by corresponding resistors to increase impedance and decrease the variability of the output current. The cascode arrangements  319  and  320  may also DC-level shift the value of the voltage across an resistor RSET which may either be off-chip or on-chip depending on the accuracy needs and whether there is any calibration during test. The cascode arrangements  319  and  320  may even be gain boosted as shown in  FIG. 3  and the gain booster being biased by a circuit not shown in  FIG. 3 . Or the cascode arrangements  319  and  320  may be directly biased and have no gain boosting. In an alternate embodiment of this circuitry, each of the current legs may have a cascode.  
         [0024]     The current set resistor RSET is connected across the negative input of a regulating driver amplifier  301  and ground GND. The positive input of the driver  301  is connected to a control voltage Vin. The output of the amplifier  301  is connected to the input of the class AB gate driver  302 . A first output  303  of the class AB gate driver  302  is connected to the Gates of the PMOS transistors. A second output  304  of the class AB gate driver  302  is connected to the Gates of the NMOS transistors. The voltages on nodes  303  and  304  are selected leg(s) biasing set voltages that drive the all the Gates of the corresponding set of PMOS and NMOS transistors, respectively, of the selected current mirror legs. The Sources of the PMOS transistors are connected through a resistor to a positive supply rail V P , and the Sources of the NMOS transistors are connected via a resistor to a negative supply rail V N . The Drain of each PMOS transistor is connected to the switching arrangement  305  and the Drain of each NMOS transistor is connected to the switching arrangement  306 .  
         [0025]     The cascode arrangement  319  has an input node SET 1  connected to the first output of the switching arrangement  305 , an input node SET 2  connected to the first output of the switching arrangement  306 , and a central node SET connected to the negative input of the amplifier  301 . The cascode arrangement  320  has a first input node DRV  1  connected to the second output of the switching arrangement  305 , a second input node DRV 2  connected to the second output of the switching arrangement  306  and a central node DRV to which the output load is connected. The cascode arrangements  319  and  320  provide for the required potential shift to allow a high voltage output up to, e.g., in the range of 12 to 100 Volt. Together with a current source connected to the node SET, the amplifier  301  and the gate driver  302  constitute a driver that forces a reference current  ISET  to flow through resistor RSET in a closed loop configuration. The reference current &#39;SET is mirrored to each of the current sources  307  to  312  and  313  to  318 , which is connected to the node DRV.  
         [0026]     In operation, each switching arrangement  305  and  306  connects a predetermined number of current sources to the input leg of the current mirror, i.e. the switching arrangement  305  connects at least one current source  307  to  312  to the node SET 1  and the switching arrangement  306  connects at least one current source  313  to  318  to the node SET 2 . The remaining current sources are connected to the output leg of the current mirror, i.e. the switching arrangement  305  connects all other current sources out of the current sources  307  to  312  to the node DRV  1  and the switching arrangement  306  connects all other current sources  313  to  318  to the node DRV 2 . The actual current sources that are connected to the nodes SET 1  and SET 2  and to the nodes DRV 1  and DRV 2  of the current mirror change each clock-cycle, whereas the ratio of the number of current sources within each group remains constant as long as no change of the current gain is requested. The current gain of the current mirror is defined by the number of current sources connected to the input leg of the current mirror divided by the number of current sources connected to the output leg of the current mirror (current gain ratio). The node DRV can be directly connected to an (external) load.  
         [0027]      FIG. 4  shows how a particular current source  318  is controlled by a digital switching control  403 . The current source  318  has two switches  401  and  402  in its Drain. The switch  401  can connect the current source  318  to the node SET 2 , the switch  402  can connect it to the node DRV 2  depending on the digital switching control  403  driving the switches. As the switches  401  and  402  are controlled by the same output of the digital switching control  403 , but switch  402  is connected through an inverter  404 , it is ensured that the current source  318  is connected either to the node SET 2  or to the node DRV 2 .  
         [0028]      FIG. 5  shows a example of how the switches can be controlled. A signal  501  represents the clock. Remaining signals  502  to  523  each show a control signal to be applied to the switching arrangement in order to control a current source. Thus, each signal  502  to  523  can be applied to the switches of  FIG. 4 . Looking at the scenario shown in  FIG. 3  and assuming that the ratio of the current gain is 1:10, this leads to two current sources connected to the input leg of the current mirror and the remaining 20 current sources connected to the output leg of the current mirror.  
         [0029]      FIG. 6  shows a state machine representation of the scenario set forth above. There are 11 PMOS transistors and 11 NMOS transistors, each represented by a small square in  FIG. 6 . The filled squares show the current sources connected to the input leg (SET node) of the current mirror and the other squares show the current sources connected to the output leg (DRV node) of the current mirror. Hence, at each state, two current sources are connected to the SET node and 20 current sources are connected to the DRV node. The first row in each state shows the p-type current sources, the second row shows the n-type current sources. Each state-change is indicated by an arrow pointing to the subsequent state. The state-change is triggered by the clock as described above.