Background
Bandgap reference circuits are key modules in modern analog and mixed signal integrated circuits, whose performance directly affects the accuracy and stability of the overall system. With the continuous expansion of application scenes and the increasing of the performance requirements of analog chips, more severe requirements are put forward on the precision, stability and power supply inhibition capability of a reference voltage circuit.
Fig. 1 is a conventional bandgap reference circuit of 2.5V, which is shown in fig. 1, and includes a reference core unit 11, an error amplifying unit 12, and an output unit 13, where the reference core unit 11, the error amplifying unit 12, and the output unit 13 are sequentially connected. The reference core unit 11 comprises a plurality of triodes and a plurality of resistors, the second end of the triode Q4 is connected with the cathode voltage V -, the first end of the triode Q4 is connected with the first end of the resistor R4, the third end of the triode Q4 outputs the reference voltage V REF, the second end of the resistor R4 is connected with the first end of the resistor R3 and the first end of the resistor R1, the second end of the resistor R3 is connected with the second end of the triode Q2, the first end of the triode Q2 is connected with the first end of the resistor R2, the second end of the resistor R1 is connected with the third end of the triode Q1 and the third end of the triode Q2, and the first end of the triode Q1 is connected with the second end of the resistor R2 and the anode voltage V +. The error amplifying unit 12 includes a plurality of triodes, a first end of the triode Q5 is connected with the cathode voltage V - and a first end of the triode Q6, a second end of the triode Q3 is connected with a second end and a third end of the triode Q5 and a third end of the triode Q6, a second end of the triode Q6 is connected with a second end of the triode Q7, a third end of the triode Q7 is connected with a third end of the triode Q1, a third end of the triode Q3 is connected with a second end of the triode Q2, and a first end of the triode Q3 is connected with a first end of the triode Q7 and the anode voltage V +. The output unit 13 includes a plurality of triodes and a plurality of resistors, and cathode voltage V - and triode Q11's second end are connected to triode Q10's second end, and triode Q6's second end is connected to triode Q10's third end, and resistor R12's first end is connected to triode Q10's first end, and resistor R12's second end connection resistor R13's first end and triode Q11's third end, and triode Q11's first end and anode voltage V + are connected to resistor R13's second end.
The operational amplifier composed of the triode Q3, the triode Q7, the triode Q5 and the triode Q6 controls the base electrode potential of the triode Q3 to be equal to that of the triode Q1, namely V BE1=VBE3, so that the voltage drop on the resistor R1 and the voltage drop on the resistor R3 are equal. Let the collector current of transistor Q1 be I C1 and the collector current of Q2 be I C2.
Thus, there are:
(1)
wherein, the For the voltage drop of the resistor R3,Has positive temperature coefficient, k is Boltzmann constant) Q is electron charge [ ]) T is absolute temperature (K), V T is thermoelectric, and m is a process-related parameter.
Obtaining a reference voltage:
(2)
wherein, the Has a negative temperature coefficient of the heat sink,Has positive temperature coefficient, k is Boltzmann constant) Q is electron charge [ ]) T is absolute temperature (K), V T is thermoelectric, and m is a process-related parameter.
However, the conventional reference voltage generating circuit currently has two significant drawbacks in practical applications:
First, the generated reference voltage is susceptible to semiconductor manufacturing process fluctuations. Because the process parameters are difficult to be completely consistent in the production process, the finally output reference voltage deviates from the preset 2.5V target value, the accuracy and consistency of the reference voltage cannot be ensured, and the performance of the circuit module depending on the reference voltage is adversely affected.
And secondly, the working voltage of the second-stage operational amplifier in the conventional circuit is taken as the cathode voltage of the main chip. When the cathode voltage of the chip changes due to external power supply fluctuation, load change or other working condition factors, the working point and the output characteristic of the operational amplifier can be directly influenced, and the deviation of the operational amplifier output signal is caused. This deviation is further transferred to the reference voltage, resulting in instability of the reference voltage, eventually reducing the output accuracy of the whole chip.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention designs a small voltage compensation circuit by utilizing the base current of the triode, which can make up the difference of the parameter difference of the triode device on the reference output voltage under different processes, finely adjust and raise the output voltage on the basis of the band gap reference voltage determined by the process to obtain accurate 2.5V reference voltage, and meanwhile, the temperature coefficient of the base current can participate in compensating the temperature curve of the reference voltage to reduce the temperature drift of the reference.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is as follows:
A band gap reference circuit comprises a reference core unit, an error amplifying unit and an output unit, wherein the reference core unit, the error amplifying unit and the output unit are sequentially connected, the reference core unit comprises a plurality of triodes, a plurality of resistors, a plurality of transistors and a diode, the second end of a fourth triode is connected with cathode voltage, the first end of the fourth triode is connected with the first end of the fourth resistor, the second end of the fourth resistor is connected with the first end of the third resistor and the first end of the first resistor, the second end of the third resistor is connected with the second end of the second triode and the third end of the eighth triode, the first end of the second triode is connected with the first end of the second resistor, the second end of the first triode is connected with the third end of the third resistor and the third end of the second triode, the first end of the first triode is connected with the third end of the third resistor, the third end of the second resistor is connected with the third end of the eighth resistor, the third end of the second resistor is connected with the third end of the third resistor, and the third end of the eighth resistor is connected with the third end of the third resistor.
In a specific embodiment, the error amplifying unit includes a plurality of triodes, a plurality of resistors and a capacitor, wherein a first end of a fifth triode is connected to a second end of the second transistor and a first end of the sixth triode, a second end of a third triode is connected to a second end and a third end of the fifth triode and a third end of the sixth triode, a third end of the third triode is connected to a third end of the eighth triode, a first end of the third triode is connected to a first end of the zeroth resistor and a first end of the seventh triode, a second end of the sixth triode is connected to a first end of the first capacitor and a second end of the seventh triode, a second end of the first capacitor is connected to a first end of the eleventh resistor, a second end of the eleventh resistor is connected to a third end of the second triode and a third end of the seventh triode, and a second end of the zeroth resistor is connected to an anode voltage.
Further, the output unit comprises a third transistor and a second capacitor, wherein the second end of the third transistor is connected with cathode voltage, the third end of the third transistor is connected with the second end of the seventh triode and the first end of the second capacitor, and the second end of the second capacitor is connected with the first end of the third transistor and anode voltage.
In a specific embodiment, the bandgap reference circuit further comprises a compensation current unit, wherein the compensation current unit comprises a plurality of resistors, a plurality of transistors and a ninth triode, a first end of a seventh resistor is connected with a first end of a fifth transistor and a second end of a second transistor, a second end of the seventh resistor is connected with a first end of an eighth resistor and a first end of a fourth transistor, a second end of the ninth triode is connected with a second end of the fifth transistor, a third end of the eighth resistor and a third end of the fourth transistor, a first end of the ninth triode is connected with a first end of the tenth resistor, a third end of the ninth triode is connected with a third end of the third triode, and a second end of the tenth resistor is connected with an anode voltage.
Further, the expression of the reference voltage V REF is:
Wherein V BE1 is the base-emitter voltage of the first triode, V BE4 is the base-emitter voltage of the fourth triode, R1 is the resistance of the first resistor, R2 is the resistance of the second resistor, R3 is the resistance of the third resistor, R4 is the resistance of the fourth resistor, The variable quantity generated by the base-emitter voltage of the triode is k 2IB1 which is the current drawn by the base of the third triode and the base of the eighth triode to the collector of the second triode, I C2 is the collector current of the second triode, beta is the triode amplification factor, and Vos is the input offset voltage of the error amplifier.
Further, the temperature coefficient of the reference voltage V REF includes V BE1+VBE4,And a small temperature coefficient, wherein V BE1+VBE4 is a positive temperature coefficient,Is a negative temperature coefficient of the heat exchanger,Is a small temperature coefficient.
Further, the base-emitter voltage difference of the third triode, the seventh triode, the eighth triode and the ninth triode is adjusted by adjusting the sizes of the zeroth resistor, the ninth resistor and the tenth resistor, so that the size of the small compensation voltage is adjusted, and the size of the fourth resistor is adjustedPositive temperature coefficient of the term.
Further, the first resistor and the third resistor have the same resistance value.
Further, the third triode, the seventh triode, the fifth triode, the sixth triode and the zeroth resistor form an error amplifier.
Further, the first diode is a zener diode.
The band gap reference circuit has the advantages that the base current can be utilized to finely adjust the reference voltage V REF, the limitation of technological parameters on the reference voltage V REF is avoided, the fixed voltage source used by the operational amplifier in the circuit can reduce the influence of cathode voltage on the reference voltage V REF and improve the stability of the reference voltage, and the compensation current unit in the circuit can offset the base current, so that the reference voltage V REF is reduced, and the temperature curve at the high temperature of the compensation current unit is finely adjusted.
In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
Detailed Description
In order to make the purpose and technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention more clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the invention. All other embodiments, which can be made by a person skilled in the art without creative efforts, based on the described embodiments of the present invention fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a bandgap reference circuit according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, a bandgap reference circuit includes a reference core unit 21, an error amplifying unit 22, and an output unit 23, wherein the reference core unit 21, the error amplifying unit 22, and the output unit 23 are sequentially connected.
More specifically, the reference core unit 21 supplies a voltage source to the error amplifying unit 22, generates a reference voltage V REF together with the error amplifying unit 22, and the output unit 23 is used to secure the load capacity of the circuit.
Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram of a bandgap reference circuit according to a first embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 3, a bandgap reference circuit includes a reference core unit 31, an error amplifying unit 32, and an output unit 33, wherein the reference core unit 31, the error amplifying unit 32, and the output unit 33 are sequentially connected.
Further, the reference core unit 31 includes a plurality of transistors, a plurality of resistors, a plurality of transistors, and a diode. The second end of the triode Q4 is connected with the cathode voltage V -, the first end of the triode Q4 is connected with the first end of the resistor R4, the third end of the triode Q4 outputs the reference voltage V REF, the second end of the resistor R4 is connected with the first end of the resistor R3 and the first end of the resistor R1, the second end of the resistor R3 is connected with the second end of the triode Q2 and the third end of the triode Q8, the first end of the triode Q2 is connected with the first end and the node DVBE of the resistor R2, the second end of the resistor R1 is connected with the second end and the third end of the triode Q1, the second end of the resistor R9 is connected with the anode voltage V +, the first end of the resistor R5 is connected with the first end of the resistor V -, the second end of the resistor R5 is connected with the first end of the transistor M1, the second end of the transistor Q8 is connected with the second end and the third end of the transistor M2, the third end of the transistor M2 is connected with the third end of the diode M2, and the third end of the resistor M2 is connected with the third end of the diode M2.
Further, the error amplifying unit 32 includes a plurality of transistors, a plurality of resistors, and a capacitor. The first end of triode Q5 connects transistor M2's second end, triode Q6's first end and power VDDL, triode Q5's second end and third end and triode Q6's third end are connected to triode Q3's third end, triode Q8's third end is connected to triode Q3's first end connecting resistance R0's first end and triode Q7's first end, triode Q6's second end connecting capacitor C1's first end and triode Q7's second end, capacitor C1's second end connecting resistance R11's first end, triode Q2's third end and triode Q7's third end are connected to resistance R11's second end, anode voltage V + is connected to resistance R0's second end.
Further, the output unit 33 includes a transistor M3 and a capacitor C2, wherein a second terminal of the transistor M3 is connected to the cathode voltage V -, a third terminal of the transistor M3 is connected to a second terminal of the transistor Q7 and a first terminal of the capacitor C2, and a second terminal of the capacitor C2 is connected to the first terminal of the transistor M3 and the anode voltage V +.
Alternatively, the transistors M1, M2 and M3 may be MOSFETs, with the first terminal of each transistor being its source, the second terminal of each transistor being its drain, and the third terminal of each transistor being its gate.
More specifically, the transistors M1 and M2 are P-type MOSFETs, and the transistor M3 is an N-type MOSFET.
Optionally, the transistors Q1 to Q4, Q7 and Q8 are NPN transistors, and the transistors Q5 and Q6 are PNP transistors. The first end of each triode is an emitter, the second end of each triode is a collector, and the third end of each triode is a base.
Optionally, the diode D1 is a zener diode.
The following describes the operation of a bandgap reference circuit according to the invention with reference to fig. 3. In the reference core unit 31, the transistor M1, the transistor M2, the resistor R5, and the resistor R6 form a current mirror, and the current mirror flows through the diode D1 to generate an internal small voltage source VDDL, which is used as a power source of the error amplifying unit 32, so as to reduce the influence of the cathode voltage on the reference voltage V REF and improve the stability of the reference voltage.
The error amplifying unit 32, the triode Q3, the triode Q7, the triode Q5, the triode Q6 and the resistor R0 form an error amplifier, and the error amplifier is used for clamping the collector voltages of the triode Q1 and the triode Q2, and Vos is the input offset voltage of the error amplifier. The resistor R11 and the capacitor C1 connected between the base electrode and the collector electrode of the triode Q7 are compensation networks and are used for regulating loop stability of the system. The magnitude of the resistor R0 affects the base-emitter voltage difference of the three transistors, namely the transistor Q8, the transistor Q3 and the transistor Q7, so as to affect the bias current. The transistor Q7 and the transistor Q1 are a pair of current mirrors, and can be approximately considered that the transistor Q8 and the transistor Q3 also form a current mirror with the transistor Q1, because the amplification coefficient of the transistor is limited, the bases of the transistor Q7, the transistor Q3 and the transistor Q8 respectively draw currents to the collectors of the transistor Q1 and the transistor Q2, the magnitudes of the currents are respectively recorded as k 1IB1 and k 2IB1, wherein k 1 and k 2 are influenced by the area proportion of the transistor, the resistor R0 and the resistor R9, the larger the areas of the transistor Q3 and the transistor Q7 relative to the transistor Q1 are, the larger the resistors R0 and the resistor R9 are, and the smaller the resistors k 1 and k 2 are.
Further, the transistor M3 in the output unit 33 is a large-sized power transistor for securing the load capability of the circuit.
More specifically, the collector current of the transistor Q1 is I C1, and the collector current of Q2 is I C2. The currents on the resistor R1 and the resistor R3 are respectively:
(3)
(4)
the voltage drops across resistor R1 and resistor R3 are in the following relationship, taking into account the offset of the error amplifier:
(5)
Namely:
(6)
thereby obtaining the ratio of collector currents of the triode Q1 and the triode Q2:
(7)
thereby obtaining a voltage drop across resistor R2:
(8)
wherein, the Has positive temperature coefficient, k is Boltzmann constant) Q is electron charge [ ]) T is absolute temperature (K), V T is thermoelectric potential, I S1 and I S2 are respectively the reverse saturated currents of the triode Q1 and the triode Q2, and the parallel connection number of the triode Q1 and the triode Q2 is 1:m, soM is a process related parameter.
Taking into account k 2IB1 and the base current of transistor Q2, the current flowing across resistor R3 is obtained as follows:
(9)
Wherein, beta is the triode amplification factor.
Thereby obtaining a reference voltage expression:
(10)
when the resistance R1 and the resistance R3 satisfy R1 = R3, there are:
(11)
Wherein V BE1 is the base-emitter voltage of the first triode, V BE4 is the base-emitter voltage of the fourth triode, R1 is the resistance of the first resistor, R2 is the resistance of the second resistor, R3 is the resistance of the third resistor, R4 is the resistance of the fourth resistor, Is the amount of change produced by the base-emitter voltage of the transistor.
Wherein, the The term may be added to the reference voltage V REF, and its own temperature coefficient may compensate for the temperature coefficient of the reference voltage V REF. The temperature coefficient of the current I B1 with the temperature change is shown as negative temperature from-55 ℃ to 125 ℃ in figure 5, and then positive temperature is shown. By superimposing the small term on the reference voltage V REF, the temperature coefficient of the reference voltage V REF contains the positive temperature coefficient of V BE1+VBE4,The introduction of the small term voltage causes the reference voltage V REF to increase on the basis of the conventional reference circuit voltage formula (2) and the temperature coefficient of the small term. The base-emitter voltage difference of the triode Q3, the triode Q7 and the triode Q8 can be adjusted by adjusting the sizes of the resistor R0 and the resistor R9, so that the size of the small compensation voltage can be finely adjusted, and the size of the resistor R4 can be adjustedThe positive temperature coefficient of the term, two parts of resistors act simultaneously, and finally, the minimum temperature drift is obtained when the reference voltage V REF accurately reaches 2.5V.
FIG. 6 is a simulated waveform diagram of a conventional 2.5V reference circuit, under the current process, the reference voltage V REF output voltage at which the slope of the temperature curve is 0 is only 2.436V, the temperature drift is 25.78ppm/°C, and the voltage varies by 11.6mV within the full temperature range from-55 ℃ to 125 ℃. The reference voltage V REF of the traditional 2.5V reference circuit can have different degrees of fluctuation under different processes, and most of the situations can not obtain just 2.5V. By adopting the scheme, through properly adjusting the resistor R0, the resistor R9 and the resistor R4, the accurate 2.5V output voltage can be obtained. Fig. 7 is a simulated waveform diagram of the first embodiment shown in fig. 3, and as shown in fig. 7, the temperature drift of the reference voltage V REF in the full temperature range is reduced to 4.56ppm/°c under the compensation of the small-term voltage temperature coefficient.
In summary, the circuit can utilize the base current to finely adjust the reference voltage V REF to avoid the limitation of the process parameter to the reference voltage V REF, and the fixed voltage source used by the operational amplifier in the circuit can reduce the influence of the cathode voltage to the reference voltage V REF and improve the stability of the reference voltage.
Fig. 4 is a circuit diagram of a bandgap reference circuit according to a second embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 4, a bandgap reference circuit includes a reference core unit 41, an error amplifying unit 42, an output unit 43, and a compensation current unit 44, wherein the reference core unit 41, the error amplifying unit 42, and the output unit 43 are connected in this order, and the compensation current unit 44 is connected to the reference core unit 41.
The embodiment of fig. 4 differs from the embodiment of fig. 3 in that it further comprises a compensation current unit 44. The offset current unit 44 includes a plurality of resistors, a plurality of transistors, and a transistor Q9. The first end of the resistor R7 is connected with the first end of the transistor M5 and the voltage source VDDL, the second end of the resistor R7 is connected with the first end of the resistor R8 and the first end of the transistor M4, the second end of the transistor Q9 is connected with the second end and the third end of the transistor M5, the second end of the resistor R8 and the third end of the transistor M4, the second end of the transistor M4 is connected with the node DVBE, the first end of the transistor Q9 is connected with the first end of the resistor R10, the third end of the transistor Q9 is connected with the third end of the transistor Q3, and the second end of the resistor R10 is connected with the anode voltage V +. Wherein node DVBE is the first terminal of resistor R2.
Alternatively, the transistors M4 and M5 may be MOSFETs, with the first terminal of each transistor being its source, the second terminal of each transistor being its drain, and the third terminal of each transistor being its gate.
More specifically, the transistor M4 and the transistor M5 are P-type MOSFETs.
Optionally, the transistor Q9 is an NPN transistor. The first end of the triode is an emitter, the second end of the triode is a collector, and the third end of the triode is a base.
In this embodiment, k 1 and k 2 are affected by the area ratio of the transistor and the sizes of the resistor R0, the resistor R9, and the resistor R10, i.e., the larger the areas of the transistor Q3 and the transistor Q7 relative to the transistor Q1, the larger the areas of k 1 and k 2, and the larger the resistors R0, R9, and R10, the smaller the areas of k 1 and k 2. The base-emitter voltage difference of the triode Q3, the triode Q7, the triode Q8 and the triode Q9 can be adjusted by adjusting the sizes of the resistor R0, the resistor R9 and the resistor R10, so that the size of the small compensation voltage can be finely adjusted, and the size of the resistor R4 can be adjustedThe positive temperature coefficient of the term, two parts of resistors act simultaneously, and finally, the minimum temperature drift is obtained when the reference voltage V REF accurately reaches 2.5V.
For the embodiment in fig. 3, if the measured reference voltage V REF is high at high temperature due to inaccurate temperature coefficient model or excessive high-temperature junction leakage effect of the core triode, the compensation current unit 44 can adjust the reference voltage V REF at high temperature without adjusting other resistance ratios in the bandgap reference circuit, and the working principle thereof will be described below.
The collector current of transistor Q9 can be regarded as the mirror current of reference core 41 current I C2, similar to transistors Q8 and Q3, and its magnitude is recorded as(K 9 represents the mirror image ratio of the current, the size of which is determined by the resistance of the resistor R10 and the ratio of the areas of the transistor Q9 and the transistor Q1), the current flows through the transistor M4 and the resistor R7 and the resistor R8, when the current is small enough, the voltage drop across the resistor R8 is small enough, the transistor M4 cannot be started, the current flows through the resistor R7 and the resistor R8 completely, and the gate-source voltage V GS4 of the transistor M4 is the voltage drop across the resistor R7 and the resistor R8As can be seen from the formula (1), the magnitude of I C2 is proportional to the temperature, when the temperature increases to a certain extent, the gate-source voltage V GS4 of the transistor M4 increases to the threshold voltage of the transistor M4, the transistor M4 is turned on, the temperature further increases, the gate-source voltage V GS4 of the transistor M4 further increases,Transistor M3 is turned on and its channel current is injected into node DVBE, which partially cancels the current drawn at the collector junction of transistor Q1 and transistor Q2, k 1IB1 and k 2IB1, thereby pulling reference voltage V REF low.
The circuit analysis process shows that the sizes of the resistor R7 and the resistor R8 can control the temperature node at which the transistor M4 is turned on, further, the ratio of the resistance values of the resistor R7 and the resistor R8 can control the temperature node at which the transistor M3 is turned on so as to control the temperature node at which the reference voltage V REF starts to be pulled down, the transistor M3 and the transistor M4 form a current mirror structure, the current size of the transistor M3 is determined by the ratio of the sizes of the resistor R7 and the resistor R8 and the ratio of the resistance values of the resistor R8, and the current size of the transistor M3 injected into the node DVBE can be controlled by adjusting the two ratios so as to control the magnitude of the pulled down reference voltage V REF. Therefore, the compensation current unit 44 can flexibly adjust the reference voltage V REF at high temperature and set the temperature node for adjusting the reference voltage.
Fig. 8 is a simulated waveform diagram of the second embodiment shown in fig. 4. As shown in fig. 8, a simulated waveform diagram of the reference voltage V REF of the reference circuit is given under the condition that the resistance value of the resistor R8 takes different values, the blue line takes the minimum value of the resistor R8, the transistor M3 is always kept off in the full temperature range, so that the current compensation stage is not applied, the reference voltage V REF is not pulled down, the green line takes the larger value of the resistor R8, the transistor M3 starts to be opened at about 40 ℃, the current is injected into the node DVBE, and the reference voltage V REF starts to be pulled down. Simulation results show that the design of the current compensation stage can compensate the extracted base current at high temperature, so that the reference voltage V REF is reduced, and the temperature curve of the reference voltage V REF is corrected to a certain extent. In practical use, the resistance value of the resistor R8 is adjusted, so that the effect of the current compensation stage can be between the green and blue lines.
Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the change of the reference voltage V REF along with the cathode voltage at different temperatures, and the reference voltage V REF is changed by about 10mV in the process of increasing the cathode voltage from V REF to 36V at normal temperature.
In summary, the circuit can utilize the base current to finely adjust the reference voltage V REF to avoid the limitation of the process parameters on the reference voltage V REF, the fixed voltage source used by the operational amplifier in the circuit can reduce the influence of the cathode voltage on the reference voltage V REF to improve the stability of the reference voltage, and the compensation current unit in the circuit can offset the base current to reduce the reference voltage V REF and finely adjust the temperature curve at the high temperature.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but rather is capable of modification and variation without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.