Translinear circuit
A translinear circuit is a circuit that carries out its function using the translinear principle. These are current-mode circuits that can be made using transistors that obey an exponential current-voltage characteristic—this includes BJTs and CMOS transistors in weak inversion. Translinearity, in broad sense, is linear dependence of transconductance on current, which occurs in components with exponential current-voltage relationship. History and etymology. The word translinear (TL) was invented by Barrie Gilbert in 1975 to describe circuits that used the exponential current-voltage relation of BJTs. By using this exponential relationship, this class of circuits can  implement multiplication, amplification and power-law relationships. When Barrie Gilbert described this class of circuits he also described the translinear principle (TLP) which made the analysis of these circuits possible in a way that the simplified view of BJTs as linear current amplifiers did not allow. TLP was later extended to include other elements that obey an exponential current-voltage relationship (such as CMOS transistors in weak inversion). The Translinear Principle. The translinear principle (TLP) is that in a closed loop containing an even number of translinear elements (TEs) with an equal number of them arranged clockwise and counter-clockwise , the product of the currents through the clockwise TEs equals the product of the currents through the counter-clockwise TEs or formula_1 The TLP is dependent on the exponential current-voltage relationship of a circuit element. Thus, an ideal TE follows the relationship formula_2 where formula_3 is a pre-exponential scaling current, formula_4 is a dimensionless multiplier to formula_3, formula_6 is a dimensionless multiplier to the gate-emitter voltage and formula_7 is the thermal voltage formula_8. In a circuit, TEs are described as either clockwise (CW) or counterclockwise (CCW). If the arrow on the emitter point clockwise, it's considered  a CW TE, if it points counterclockwise, it's considered a CCW TE. Consider an example: By Kirchhoff's voltage law, the voltage around the loop that goes from formula_9 to formula_9 must be 0. In other words, the voltage drops must equal the voltage increases. When a loop that only goes through the emitter-gate connections of TEs exists, we call it a translinear loop. Mathematically, this becomes formula_11 Because of the exponential current-voltage relationship, this implies TLP: formula_1 this is effectively because current is used as the signal. Because of this, voltage is the log of the  signal and addition in the log domain is like multiplication of the original signal (i.e. formula_13). The "translinear principle" is the rule that, in a translinear loop, the product of the currents through the CW TEs is equal to the product of the currents through the CCW TEs. For a detailed derivation of the TLP, and physical interpretations of the parameters in the ideal TE law, please refer to or. Example Translinear Circuits. Squaring Circuit. According to TLP, formula_1. This means that formula_15 where formula_16 is the unit scaling current (i.e. the definition of unity for the circuit). This is  effectively a squaring circuit where formula_17. This particular circuit is designed in what is known as an alternating topology, which means that CW TEs alternate with CCW TEs. Here's the same circuit in a stacked topology. The same equation applies to this circuit as to the alternating topology according to TLP. Neither of these circuits can be implemented in real life without biasing the transistors such that the currents expected to flow through them can actually do so. Here are some example biasing schemes: 2-Quadrant Multiplier. The design of a 2-quadrant multiplier can be easily done using  TLP. The first issue with this circuit is that negative values of currents need to be represented. Since all currents must be positive for the exponential relationship to hold (the log operation is not defined for negative numbers), positive currents must represent negative currents. The way this is done is by defining two positive currents whose difference is the current of interest. A two quadrant multiplier has the relationship formula_18 hold while allowing formula_19 to be either positive or negative. We'll let formula_20 and formula_21. Also note that formula_22 and formula_23 etc. Plugging these values into the original equation  yields formula_24. This can be rephrased as formula_25. By equating the positive and negative portions of the equation, two equations that can be directly built as translinear loops arise: formula_26 formula_27 The following are the alternating loops that implement the desired equations and some biasing schemes for the circuit. Usage in electronic circuits. The TLP has been used in a variety of circuits including vector arithmetic circuits, current conveyors, current-mode operational amplifiers, and RMS-DC converters. It has been in use since the 1960s (by Gilbert), but was not formalized until 1975. In the 1980s, Evert Seevinck's work  helped to create a systematic process for translinear circuit design. In 1990 Seevinck invented a circuit he called a companding current-mode integrator that was effectively a first-order log-domain filter. A version of this was generalized in 1993 by Douglas Frey and the connection between this class of filters and TL circuits was made most explicit in the late 90s work of Jan Mulder et al. where they describe the "dynamic translinear principle". More work by Seevinck led to synthesis techniques for extremely low-power TL circuits. More recent work in the field has led to the voltage -translinear principle, multiple-input translinear element networks, and field-programmable analog arrays (FPAAs).