EP0275582A1 - Current mirror circuit - Google Patents

Current mirror circuit Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0275582A1
EP0275582A1 EP87202445A EP87202445A EP0275582A1 EP 0275582 A1 EP0275582 A1 EP 0275582A1 EP 87202445 A EP87202445 A EP 87202445A EP 87202445 A EP87202445 A EP 87202445A EP 0275582 A1 EP0275582 A1 EP 0275582A1
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EP
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Prior art keywords
current
transistor
emitter
transistors
branch
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EP87202445A
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German (de)
French (fr)
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EP0275582B1 (en
Inventor
Cord Heinrich Kohsiek
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Koninklijke Philips NV
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Philips Patentverwaltung GmbH
Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken NV
Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV
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    • GPHYSICS
    • G05CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05FSYSTEMS FOR REGULATING ELECTRIC OR MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G05F3/00Non-retroactive systems for regulating electric variables by using an uncontrolled element, or an uncontrolled combination of elements, such element or such combination having self-regulating properties
    • G05F3/02Regulating voltage or current
    • G05F3/08Regulating voltage or current wherein the variable is dc
    • G05F3/10Regulating voltage or current wherein the variable is dc using uncontrolled devices with non-linear characteristics
    • G05F3/16Regulating voltage or current wherein the variable is dc using uncontrolled devices with non-linear characteristics being semiconductor devices
    • G05F3/20Regulating voltage or current wherein the variable is dc using uncontrolled devices with non-linear characteristics being semiconductor devices using diode- transistor combinations
    • G05F3/26Current mirrors
    • G05F3/265Current mirrors using bipolar transistors only

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a current mirror circuit with a first and a second branch, which are connected in parallel with one another.
  • a circuit is preferably part of an integrated circuit.
  • Current mirror circuits of this type have been known for a long time. They contain a diode in the first branch, which is usually formed by a transistor whose collector is connected to its base, and the base-emitter path of a transistor in the second branch. Current mirrors of this type provide an output current which corresponds to the input current (if the effective emitter area of the transistors in the two branches are equal to one another) or which is greater or less than the input current by a defined factor (if the effective emitter area of the transistor in the second branch is larger or smaller by this factor than the emitter area of the transistor connected as a diode in the first branch). In practice, however, the emitter area ratio is limited to values between about 1:10 and 10: 1.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide a current mirror with which other relationships between output current and input current can be realized.
  • the first branch contains two diodes connected in series and the second branch contains the series connection of the base-emitter paths of two transistors, the emitter current of one transistor forming the base current of the other transistor.
  • a particular advantage of the circuit according to the invention is that the ratio between the current in the second branch is proportional to the root of the current gain of the one transistor in the second branch.
  • the current amplification factor of the transistors of an integrated circuit is essentially the same, the current amplification factors of the transistors of two integrated circuits of the same type can differ significantly from one another, in particular if the circuits do not originate from the same crystal wafer. With different types of circuit, however, a - usually undesirable - quiescent current results which also fluctuates with the root of the current amplification factor or the reciprocal of this root.
  • a development of the current mirror circuit according to the invention is therefore characterized by its use for compensating the quiescent current proportional to the root of the current amplification factor of the transistors of a circuit or the reciprocal of this value in an integrated circuit.
  • the current mirror circuit shown in Fig. 1 contains in a first branch two diodes connected in series with the same forward direction, each of which is formed by an npn transistor 1 or 2, the collector-base connections of which are short-circuited.
  • the second branch contains two npn transistors 3 and 4, whose series-connected base-emitter paths are connected in parallel with the series-connected diodes 1, 2. Accordingly, the base of transistor 3 is connected to the collector-base terminal of transistor 1; this connection point forms a connection point 5 of the current mirror circuit. Furthermore, the emitter of transistor 3 is connected to the base of transistor 4, the emitter of which is connected to the emitter of transistor 2. The connection of the emitters of transistors 2 and 4 forms a further connection point 6 of the circuit.
  • the third connection point of the current mirror is formed by the collector of transistor 4, to which the collector of transistor 3 is connected. Since the collector current of transistor 3 is significantly smaller than the collector current of transistor 4, the latter connection may also be omitted, if necessary.
  • U3 U1 - U d (2), wherein U1 is the base-emitter voltage of the transistor 1 connected as a diode and U d is the voltage between the emitter of the transistor 3 and the emitter of the transistor 1.
  • the current across the terminal applies 7 is greater than the current across terminal 5 by a factor of ⁇ B.
  • the input current can be supplied at terminal 5, the proportional current at terminal 7 being further processed (in this case terminal 6 can be connected to ground, for example), but the current can also be further processed via terminal 6 because at least this approximately corresponds to the current I4.
  • an input current can be supplied to connection 6 and the output current can be taken from connection 5. In this case the output current is smaller by a factor of 1 / ⁇ B than the input current.
  • FIG. 2 shows a preferred application example of the circuit according to the invention in an amplitude demodulator.
  • Two branches each containing the series connection of the collector-emitter paths of two npn transistors 11 and 12 or 13 and 14, are connected to a direct current source 15.
  • the transistor 11 is connected directly to the direct current source formed by the collector-emitter path of a transistor 15, the emitter of the transistor 14 in the other branch is connected to the direct current source via a resistor 16.
  • the base connections of the transistors 11 and 14, whose emitters are connected directly or via the resistor 16 to the direct current source 15, are connected to the emitters of the transistors in the other branch; the base of transistor 14 is thus connected to the emitter of transistor 12 and the base of transistor 11 is connected to the emitter of transistor 13.
  • the collector current of the transistor 13 is fed via a current mirror formed from pnp transistors, the output current of which is twice as large as the collector current of the transistor 13, to an output resistor 17, whose connection facing away from the current mirror is connected to ground.
  • the inputs 18 and 19 of the circuit are connected to the base connections of the transistors 12 and 13 and connected to a signal source (not shown in more detail) which generates amplitude-modulated signals. If the base currents of the transistors were negligibly small, the transistor 13 would only carry a collector current if the potential at the input terminal 18 was positive compared to the potential at the input terminal 19. A rectification would then take place, from which a direct voltage could be generated by means of a filter (not shown) coupled to the output resistor 17, which, among other things, would be usable for rule purposes.
  • This quiescent current is kept almost completely away from the resistor 17 in that a DC current is drawn off by means of the circuit shown in FIG. 1, which is part of an integrated circuit together with the amplitude modulator, which has almost the same size and the same dependence on the current amplification factor like the quiescent current.
  • the circuit shown in FIG. 1 is connected with its connection 6 to a current source 21 and with its connection 5 to the connection point of the output of the current mirror 20 with the resistor 17.
  • the current source 21 is formed by the collector-emitter path of a transistor which has the same properties as the transistor 15 and its base-emitter path connected in parallel with the base-emitter path of the transistor 15 and thus connected to the same bias generator 22 is like the transistor 15.
  • the current I ⁇ is supplied to the terminal 6, so that the current I o / ⁇ B, which corresponds to the quiescent current component, is approximately discharged via the terminal 5.
  • the useful component which is dependent on the alternating voltage at the inputs 18, 19, flows through the resistor 17 and can be used for control purposes independently of specimen variations.
  • the doubling of the quiescent current (and the useful signal) caused by the current mirror 20 can be omitted if either the collector current of the transistor 21 is halved or the emitter current of the transistors 3 and 4 is doubled by changing the transistor geometry.
  • the current mirror circuit implemented with npn transistors 1 ... 4 can also be constructed in an analog manner from pnp transistors.

Abstract

Die Erfindung betrifft eine Stromspiegelschaltung mit einem ersten Zweig, der zwei in Serie geschaltete Dioden enthält, und einem zweiten Zweig, der die in Serie geschalteten Basis-Emitter-Strecken zweier Transistoren enthält. Das Verhältnis der Ein- und Ausgangsströme ist dabei der Wurzel des Stromverstärkungsfaktors der Transistoren proportional.The invention relates to a current mirror circuit having a first branch which contains two diodes connected in series and a second branch which contains the base-emitter paths of two transistors connected in series. The ratio of the input and output currents is proportional to the root of the current amplification factor of the transistors.

Description

Die Erfindung betrifft eine Stromspiegelschaltung mit einem ersten und einem zweiten Zweig, die zueinander parallelgeschaltet sind. Eine solche Schaltung ist vor­zugsweise Teil einer Integrierten Schaltung.The invention relates to a current mirror circuit with a first and a second branch, which are connected in parallel with one another. Such a circuit is preferably part of an integrated circuit.

Stromspiegelschaltungen dieser Art sind seit langem be­kannt. Sie enthalten im ersten Zweig eine Diode, die meist durch einen Transistor gebildet wird, dessen Kollektor mit seiner Basis verbunden ist, und im zweiten Zweig die Basis-Emitter-Strecke eines Transistors. Stromspiegel dieser Art liefern einen Ausgangsstrom, der dem Eingangs­strom entspricht (wenn die wirksamen Emitterflächen der Transistoren in den beiden Zweigen einander gleich sind) bzw. der um einen definierten Faktor größer oder kleiner ist als der Eingangsstrom (wenn die wirksame Emitterfläche des Transistors im zweiten Zweig um diesen Faktor größer oder kleiner ist als die Emitterfläche des als Diode ge­schalteten Transistors im ersten Zweig). In der Praxis ist das Emitterflächenverhältnis aber auf Werte zwischen etwa 1:10 und 10:1 beschränkt.Current mirror circuits of this type have been known for a long time. They contain a diode in the first branch, which is usually formed by a transistor whose collector is connected to its base, and the base-emitter path of a transistor in the second branch. Current mirrors of this type provide an output current which corresponds to the input current (if the effective emitter area of the transistors in the two branches are equal to one another) or which is greater or less than the input current by a defined factor (if the effective emitter area of the transistor in the second branch is larger or smaller by this factor than the emitter area of the transistor connected as a diode in the first branch). In practice, however, the emitter area ratio is limited to values between about 1:10 and 10: 1.

Aufgabe der vorliegenden Erfindung ist es, einen Strom­spiegel anzugeben, mit dem andere Verhältnisse zwischen Ausgangsstrom und Eingangsstrom realisierbar sind.The object of the present invention is to provide a current mirror with which other relationships between output current and input current can be realized.

Diese Aufgabe wird erfindungsgemäß dadurch gelöst, daß der erste Zweig zwei in Serie geschaltete Dioden und der zweite Zweig die Serienschaltung der Basis-Emitter-­Strecken zweier Transistoren enthält, wobei der Emitter­strom des einen Transistors den Basisstrom des anderen Transistors bildet.This object is achieved in that the first branch contains two diodes connected in series and the second branch contains the series connection of the base-emitter paths of two transistors, the emitter current of one transistor forming the base current of the other transistor.

Ein besonderer Vorteil der erfindungsgemäßen Schaltung besteht darin, daß das Verhältnis zwischen dem Strom im zweiten Zweig der Wurzel aus der Stromverstärkung des einen Transistors im zweiten Zweig proportional ist. Der Stromverstärkungsfaktor der Transistoren einer inte­grierten Schaltung ist zwar im wesentlichen der gleiche, jedoch können die Stromverstärkungsfaktoren der Tran­sistoren von zwei integrierten Schaltungen des gleichen Typs wesentlich voneinander abweichen, insbesondere, wenn die Schaltungen nicht von der gleichen Kristall-Scheibe stammen. Bei verschiedenen Schaltungstypen ergibt sich aber ein - in der Regel unerwünschter - Ruhestrom, der ebenfalls mit der Wurzel aus dem Stromverstärkungsfaktor bzw. dem Kehrwert dieser Wurzel schwankt.A particular advantage of the circuit according to the invention is that the ratio between the current in the second branch is proportional to the root of the current gain of the one transistor in the second branch. Although the current amplification factor of the transistors of an integrated circuit is essentially the same, the current amplification factors of the transistors of two integrated circuits of the same type can differ significantly from one another, in particular if the circuits do not originate from the same crystal wafer. With different types of circuit, however, a - usually undesirable - quiescent current results which also fluctuates with the root of the current amplification factor or the reciprocal of this root.

Es sei an dieser Stelle erwähnt, daß aus Fig. 3 der DE-PS 30 35 272 ein nichtlinearer Stromverstärker bekannt ist, der in einem ersten Zweig die Serienschaltung zweier Dioden und in einem zweiten dazu parallelen Zweig die Basis-Emitter-Strecke eines ersten Transistor enthält, die in Serie zu einer aus einer Stromquelle und der Basis-Emitter-Strecke eines zweiten Transistors bestehen­den Parallelschaltung geschaltet ist. Bei dieser bekannten Schaltung soll sich der Ausgangsstrom mit dem Quadrat des Eingangsstroms ändern, während bei der Erfindung Ausgangs- ­und Eingangsstrom in einem konstanten Verhältnis zuein­ander stehen sollen.It should be mentioned at this point that from Fig. 3 of DE-PS 30 35 272 a non-linear current amplifier is known, the series connection of two diodes in a first branch and the base-emitter path of a first transistor in a second branch parallel thereto contains, which is connected in series to a parallel circuit consisting of a current source and the base-emitter path of a second transistor. In this known circuit, the output current is to change with the square of the input current, while in the invention the output and input current are to be in a constant relationship to one another.

Eine Weiterbildung der erfindungsgemäßen Stromspiegel­schaltung ist daher gekennzeichnet durch ihre Verwendung zur Kompensation des der Wurzel des Stromverstärkungs­faktors der Transistoren einer Schaltung oder dem Kehrwert dieses Wertes proportionalen Ruhestroms in einer inte­grierten Schaltung.A development of the current mirror circuit according to the invention is therefore characterized by its use for compensating the quiescent current proportional to the root of the current amplification factor of the transistors of a circuit or the reciprocal of this value in an integrated circuit.

Die Erfindung wird nachstehend anhand der Zeichnung näher erläutert. Es zeigen:

  • Fig. 1 ein Schaltbild der erfindungsgemäßen Schaltung,
  • Fig. 2 ihre Verwendung zur Kompensation des Ruhestroms bei einem AM-Demodulator.
The invention is explained below with reference to the drawing. Show it:
  • 1 is a circuit diagram of the circuit according to the invention,
  • Fig. 2 shows their use for compensation of the quiescent current in an AM demodulator.

Die in Fig. 1 dargestellte Stromspiegelschaltung enthält in einem ersten Zweig zwei mit gleicher Durchlaßrichtung in Serie geschaltete Dioden, die durch je einen npn-Tran­sistor 1 bzw. 2 gebildet werden, deren Kollektor-Basis-­Anschlüsse kurzgeschlossen sind.The current mirror circuit shown in Fig. 1 contains in a first branch two diodes connected in series with the same forward direction, each of which is formed by an npn transistor 1 or 2, the collector-base connections of which are short-circuited.

Der zweite Zweig enthält zwei npn-Transistoren 3 und 4, deren in Serie geschaltete Basis-Emitter-Strecken den in Serie geschalteten Dioden 1, 2 parallelgeschaltet sind. Demgemäß ist die Basis des Transistors 3 mit dem Kollektor-Basis-Anschluß des Transistors 1 verbunden; dieser Verbindungspunkt bildet einen Anschlußpunkt 5 der Stromspiegelschaltung. Weiterhin ist der Emitter des Transistors 3 mit der Basis des Transistors 4 verbunden, dessen Emitter mit dem Emitter des Transistors 2 verbunden ist. Die Verbindung der Emitter der Transistoren 2 und 4 bildet einen weiteren Anschlußpunkt 6 der Schaltung.The second branch contains two npn transistors 3 and 4, whose series-connected base-emitter paths are connected in parallel with the series-connected diodes 1, 2. Accordingly, the base of transistor 3 is connected to the collector-base terminal of transistor 1; this connection point forms a connection point 5 of the current mirror circuit. Furthermore, the emitter of transistor 3 is connected to the base of transistor 4, the emitter of which is connected to the emitter of transistor 2. The connection of the emitters of transistors 2 and 4 forms a further connection point 6 of the circuit.

Den dritten Anschlußpunkt des Stromspiegels bildet der Kollektor des Transistors 4, mit dem der Kollektor des Transistors 3 verbunden ist. Da der Kollektorstrom des Transistors 3 wesentlich kleiner ist als der Kollektor­strom des Transistors 4 kann die letztgenannte Verbindung gegebenenfalls aber auch entfallen.The third connection point of the current mirror is formed by the collector of transistor 4, to which the collector of transistor 3 is connected. Since the collector current of transistor 3 is significantly smaller than the collector current of transistor 4, the latter connection may also be omitted, if necessary.

Bei der nachfolgenden Berechnung sei zunächst angenommen, daß die vier Transistoren 1 bis 4 die gleichen Eigen­schaften aufweisen. Der Emitterstrom I₄ des Transistors 4 ist um den Stromverstärkungsfaktor B dieses Transistors größer als der Emitterstrom des Transistors 3. Wegen des exponentiellen Zusammenhanges zwischen der Basis-Emitter-­Spannung eines Transistors und seinem Emitterstrom gilt daher die Gleichung:
U₄ - U₃ = UTlnB      (1)
Dabei sind U₃ bzw. U₄ die Basis-Emitter-Spannungen der Transistoren 3 bzw. 4, und UT ist die sogenannte Tempe­raturspannung, die bei Zimmertemperatur etwa 25,5 mV beträgt. Weiterhin gilt:
U₃ = U₁ - Ud      (2),
wobei U₁ die Basis-Emitter-Spannung des als Diode geschal­teten Transistors 1 ist und Ud die Spannung zwischen dem Emitter des Transistors 3 und dem Emitter des Tran­sistors 1 ist. Ebenso gilt:
U₄ = U₂ + Ud      (3),
wobei U₂ die Basis-Emitter-Spannung des Transistors 2 ist. Da die als Diode geschalteten Transistoren 1 und 2 den gleichen Strom führen, gilt:
U₁ = U₂      (4).
Da gemäß Gleichung (3) die Basis-Emitter-Spannung des Transistors 4 um Ud größer ist als die Basis-Emitter-­Spannung des Transistors 2, gilt wegen des exponentiellen Zusammenhanges zwischen Emitterstrom und Basis-Emitter-­Spannung schließlich die Gleichung:
I₄/I₁ = exp(Ud/UT)      (5),
wobei I₄ der Emitterstrom des Transistors 4 und I₁ der Emitterstrom der Transistoren 1 bzw. 2 ist. Aus den Gleichungen (2), (3) und (4) ergibt sich:
U₄ - U₃ = 2Ud      (6).
Durch Gleichsetzen der Gleichungen (1) und (6) folgt:
Ud = 0,5UT lnB      (7).
Durch Einsetzen von Gleichung (7) in Gleichung (5) ergibt sich:
I₄/I₁ =√B      (8)
In the following calculation, it is initially assumed that the four transistors 1 to 4 have the same properties. The emitter current I₄ of the transistor 4th is greater than the emitter current of transistor 3 by the current amplification factor B of this transistor. Because of the exponential relationship between the base-emitter voltage of a transistor and its emitter current, the equation applies:
U₄ - U₃ = U T lnB (1)
U₃ and U₄ are the base-emitter voltages of the transistors 3 and 4, and U T is the so-called temperature voltage, which is about 25.5 mV at room temperature. The following also applies:
U₃ = U₁ - U d (2),
wherein U₁ is the base-emitter voltage of the transistor 1 connected as a diode and U d is the voltage between the emitter of the transistor 3 and the emitter of the transistor 1. The following also applies:
U₄ = U₂ + U d (3),
where U₂ is the base-emitter voltage of transistor 2. Since the transistors 1 and 2 connected as diodes carry the same current, the following applies:
U₁ = U₂ (4).
Since, according to equation (3), the base-emitter voltage of transistor 4 is larger by U d than the base-emitter voltage of transistor 2, the equation finally applies because of the exponential relationship between emitter current and base-emitter voltage:
I₄ / I₁ = exp (U d / U T ) (5),
where I₄ is the emitter current of transistor 4 and I₁ is the emitter current of transistors 1 and 2, respectively. From equations (2), (3) and (4) we get:
U₄ - U₃ = 2U d (6).
By equating equations (1) and (6):
U d = 0.5U T lnB (7).
Substituting equation (7) into equation (5) gives:
I₄ / I₁ = √B (8)

Da der Strom I₁ praktisch gleich dem über den Anschluß 5 fließenden Strom ist (die Abweichungen bewegen sich im Promillebereich) und da der Emitterstrom des Tran­sistors I₄ nahezu mit dem Strom über den dritten Anschluß 7 identisch ist, gilt also, daß der Strom über die Klemme 7 um den Faktor√B größer ist als der Strom über die Klemme 5.Since the current I₁ is practically the same as the current flowing through the terminal 5 (the deviations are in the per mil range) and since the emitter current of the transistor I₄ is almost identical to the current through the third terminal 7, the current across the terminal applies 7 is greater than the current across terminal 5 by a factor of √B.

Die vorstehenden Beziehungen wurden unter der Voraus­setzung abgeleitet, daß alle Transistoren identisch sind. Es ist aber auch möglich, daß nur die Transistoren 1 und 3 einander gleich sind und andere Emitterflächen aufweisen als die einander gleichen Transistoren 2 und 4, oder daß die Transistoren 3 und 4 einander gleich sind und andere Stromverstärkungsfaktoren aufweisen als die Transistoren 1 und 2. Schließlich können alle vier Transistoren vonein­ander abweichende Emitterflächen haben. In allen diesen Fällen gilt, daß der Faktor√B in Gleichung (8) mit einem Faktor zu multiplizieren ist, der von den wirksamen Emitterflächen abhängt.The above relationships have been derived on the assumption that all transistors are identical. However, it is also possible that only transistors 1 and 3 are identical to one another and have different emitter areas than transistors 2 and 4 that are identical to one another, or that transistors 3 and 4 are identical to one another and have different current amplification factors than transistors 1 and 2. Finally, all four transistors can have different emitter areas. In all these cases, the factor √B in equation (8) must be multiplied by a factor which depends on the effective emitter areas.

Der Eingangsstrom kann an der Klemme 5 zugeführt werden, wobei der proportionale Strom an der Klemme 7 weiterver­arbeitet wird (in diesem Fall kann die Klemme 6 beispiels­weise mit Masse verbunden sein), jedoch kann auch der Strom über den Anschluß 6 weiterverarbeitet werden, weil dieser wenigstens näherungsweise dem Strom I₄ entspricht. Ebenso kann dem Anschluß 6 ein Eingangsstrom zugeführt und der Ausgangsstrom dem Anschluß 5 entnommen werden. In diesem Fall ist der Ausgangsstrom um den Faktor 1/√B kleiner als der Eingangsstrom.The input current can be supplied at terminal 5, the proportional current at terminal 7 being further processed (in this case terminal 6 can be connected to ground, for example), but the current can also be further processed via terminal 6 because at least this approximately corresponds to the current I₄. Likewise, an input current can be supplied to connection 6 and the output current can be taken from connection 5. In this case the output current is smaller by a factor of 1 / √B than the input current.

Fig. 2 zeigt ein bevorzugtes Anwendungsbeispiel der erfin­dungsgemäßen Schaltung bei einem Amplitudendemodulator. Dabei sind zwei Zweige, die je die Serienschaltung der Kollektor-Emitter-Strecken zweier npn-Transistoren 11 und 12 bzw. 13 und 14 enthalten, an eine Gleichstromquelle 15 angeschlossen. Während jedoch der Transistor 11 direkt mit der durch die Kollektor-Emitter-Strecke eines Tran­sistors 15 gebildeten Gleichstromquelle verbunden ist, ist der Emitter des Transistors 14 im anderen Zweig über einen Widerstand 16 mit der Gleichstromquelle verbunden. Außer­dem sind die Basisanschlüsse der Transistoren 11 bzw. 14, deren Emitter direkt bzw. über den Widerstand 16 mit der Gleichstromquelle 15 verbunden sind, an die Emitter der Transistoren im jeweils anderen Zweig angeschlossen; die Basis des Transistors 14 ist also mit dem Emitter des Transistors 12 und die Basis des Transistors 11 mit dem Emitter des Transistors 13 verbunden.2 shows a preferred application example of the circuit according to the invention in an amplitude demodulator. Two branches, each containing the series connection of the collector-emitter paths of two npn transistors 11 and 12 or 13 and 14, are connected to a direct current source 15. However, while the transistor 11 is connected directly to the direct current source formed by the collector-emitter path of a transistor 15, the emitter of the transistor 14 in the other branch is connected to the direct current source via a resistor 16. In addition, the base connections of the transistors 11 and 14, whose emitters are connected directly or via the resistor 16 to the direct current source 15, are connected to the emitters of the transistors in the other branch; the base of transistor 14 is thus connected to the emitter of transistor 12 and the base of transistor 11 is connected to the emitter of transistor 13.

Der Kollektorstrom des Transistors 13 wird über einen aus pnp-Transistoren gebildeten Stromspiegel, dessen Ausgangs­strom doppelt so groß ist wie der Kollektorstrom des Tran­sistors 13, einem Ausgangswiderstand 17 zugeführt, dessen vom Stromspiegel abgewandter Anschluß mit Masse verbunden ist.The collector current of the transistor 13 is fed via a current mirror formed from pnp transistors, the output current of which is twice as large as the collector current of the transistor 13, to an output resistor 17, whose connection facing away from the current mirror is connected to ground.

Die Eingänge 18 und 19 der Schaltung sind mit den Basis­anschlüssen der Transistoren 12 und 13 verbunden und an eine nicht näher dargestellte Signalquelle angeschlossen, die amplitudenmodulierte Signale erzeugt. Wenn die Basis­ströme der Transistoren vernachlässigbar klein wären, würde der Transistor 13 nur dann einen Kollektorstrom führen, wenn das Potential an der Eingangsklemme 18 gegen­über dem Potential an der Eingangsklemme 19 positiv wäre. Es fände dann also eine Gleichrichtung statt, woraus mittels eines nicht näher dargestellten, mit dem Ausgangs­widerstand 17 gekoppelten Filters eine Gleichspannung erzeugt werden könnte, die u.a. zu Regelzwecken benutzbar wäre.The inputs 18 and 19 of the circuit are connected to the base connections of the transistors 12 and 13 and connected to a signal source (not shown in more detail) which generates amplitude-modulated signals. If the base currents of the transistors were negligibly small, the transistor 13 would only carry a collector current if the potential at the input terminal 18 was positive compared to the potential at the input terminal 19. A rectification would then take place, from which a direct voltage could be generated by means of a filter (not shown) coupled to the output resistor 17, which, among other things, would be usable for rule purposes.

Da die Basisströme der Transistoren 11...14 aber nicht vernachlässigbar sind bzw. da die Stromverstärkungs­faktoren dieser Transistoren endlich sind, ist diesem Nutzsignalanteil in der Praxis ein Ruhestrom Ir über­lagert, der von den Exemplarstreuungen der Schaltung abhängig ist und der das Regelverhalten in unerwünschter Weise beeinflussen würde.However, since the base currents of the transistors 11 ... 14 are not negligible or because the current amplification factors of these transistors are finite, a quiescent current I r is superimposed on this useful signal component, which is dependent on the sample variations of the circuit and which undesirably affects the control behavior Way would affect.

Dieser Ruhestrom hängt von dem von der Gleichstrom­quelle 15 gelieferten Gleichstrom Io und dem Stromver­stärkungsfaktor B der Transistoren 11...14 nach der Beziehung:
Ir/Io = A/√B      (9)
ab. A ist dabei ein Faktor, der vom Gleichstrom I₀ und vom Widerstand R nach der Beziehung:
A=

Figure imgb0001
      (10)
abhängt. Mit einem Wert R von 60 Ohm und einem Gleich strom Io von ca. 2 mA ergibt sich der Faktor A näherungs­weise zu 0,5, so daß nach der Verdopplung des Ruhestroms im Stromspiegel 20 dem Ausgangswiderstand ein Ruhestrom Ir der Größe:
Ir = Io/√B      (11)
zugeführt würde. Ir ist demnach der Wurzel aus dem Strom­verstärkungsfaktor umgekehrt proportional und ist daher Exemplarstreuungen ausgesetzt.This quiescent current depends on the direct current I o supplied by the direct current source 15 and the current amplification factor B of the transistors 11 ... 14 according to the relationship:
I r / I o = A / √B (9)
from. A is a factor of the direct current Istrom and the resistance R according to the relationship:
A =
Figure imgb0001
(10)
depends. With a value R of 60 ohms and an equal current I o of approximately 2 mA, the factor A is approximately 0.5, so that after doubling the quiescent current in the current mirror 20, the quiescent current I r of the magnitude:
I r = I o / √B (11)
would be fed. I r is therefore inversely proportional to the root of the current amplification factor and is therefore exposed to sample variations.

Dieser Ruhestrom wird von dem Widerstand 17 nahezu voll­ständig dadurch ferngehalten, daß mittels der in Fig. 1 dargestellten Schaltung, die zusammen mit dem Amplituden­modulator Teil einer Integrierten Schaltung ist, ein Gleichstrom abgezogen wird, der nahezu die gleiche Größe und die gleiche Abhängigkeit vom Stromverstärkungsfaktor aufweist wie der Ruhestrom. Zu diesem Zweck ist die in Fig. 1 dargestellte Schaltung mit ihrem Anschluß 6 an eine Stromquelle 21 und mit ihrem Anschluß 5 an den Verbin­dungspunkt des Ausgangs des Stromspiegels 20 mit dem Widerstand 17 angeschlossen. Die Stromquelle 21 wird durch die Kollektor-Emitter-Strecke eines Transistors gebildet, der die gleichen Eigenschaften aufweist, wie der Tran­sistor 15 und dessen Basis-Emitter-Strecke der Basis-­Emitter-Strecke des Transistors 15 parallelgeschaltet und somit an den gleichen Vorspannungserzeuger 22 ange­schlossen ist wie der Transistor 15. Infolgedessen wird dem Anschluß 6 der Strom Iγ zugeführt, so daß über den Anschluß 5 näherungsweise der Strom Io/√B abgeführt wird, der gerade dem Ruhestromanteil entspricht. Infolgedessen fließt über den Widerstand 17 nur der von der Wechsel­spannung an den Eingängen 18, 19 abhängige Nutzanteil, der unabhängig von Exemplarstreuungen zu Regelzwecken benutzt werden kann.This quiescent current is kept almost completely away from the resistor 17 in that a DC current is drawn off by means of the circuit shown in FIG. 1, which is part of an integrated circuit together with the amplitude modulator, which has almost the same size and the same dependence on the current amplification factor like the quiescent current. For this purpose, the circuit shown in FIG. 1 is connected with its connection 6 to a current source 21 and with its connection 5 to the connection point of the output of the current mirror 20 with the resistor 17. The current source 21 is formed by the collector-emitter path of a transistor which has the same properties as the transistor 15 and its base-emitter path connected in parallel with the base-emitter path of the transistor 15 and thus connected to the same bias generator 22 is like the transistor 15. As a result, the current Iγ is supplied to the terminal 6, so that the current I o / √B, which corresponds to the quiescent current component, is approximately discharged via the terminal 5. As a result, only the useful component, which is dependent on the alternating voltage at the inputs 18, 19, flows through the resistor 17 and can be used for control purposes independently of specimen variations.

Die durch den Stromspiegel 20 hervorgerufene Verdopplung des Ruhestroms (und des Nutzsignals) kann entfallen, wenn durch Änderung der Transistorgeometrie entweder der Kollektorstrom des Transistors 21 halbiert oder der Emitterstrom der Transistoren 3 und 4 verdoppelt wird. - Die mit npn-Transistoren 1...4 realisierte Stromspiegelschaltung kann in analoger Weise auch aus pnp-Transistoren aufgebaut werden.The doubling of the quiescent current (and the useful signal) caused by the current mirror 20 can be omitted if either the collector current of the transistor 21 is halved or the emitter current of the transistors 3 and 4 is doubled by changing the transistor geometry. - The current mirror circuit implemented with npn transistors 1 ... 4 can also be constructed in an analog manner from pnp transistors.

Claims (5)

1. Stromspiegelschaltung mit einem ersten und einem zweiten Zweig, die zueinander parallelgeschaltet sind,
dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der erste Zweig zwei in Serie geschaltete Dioden (1, 2) und der zweite Zweig die Serien­schaltung der Basis-Emitter-Strecken zweier Tran­sistoren (3, 4) enthält, wobei der Emitterstrom des einen Transistors den Basisstrom des anderen Transistors bildet.
1. current mirror circuit with a first and a second branch, which are connected in parallel with one another,
characterized in that the first branch contains two diodes (1, 2) connected in series and the second branch contains the series connection of the base-emitter paths of two transistors (3, 4), the emitter current of one transistor forming the base current of the other transistor .
2. Stromspiegelschaltung nach Anspruch 1,
dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Eingangsstrom dem Verbin­dungspunkt (6) der beiden Zweige zugeführt wird, mit dem der Emitter eines Transistors (4) in dem zweiten Zweig verbunden ist, und daß der Ausgangsstrom dem anderen Verbindungspunkt (5) der beiden Zweige entnommen wird.
2. current mirror circuit according to claim 1,
characterized in that the input current is supplied to the connection point (6) of the two branches, to which the emitter of a transistor (4) in the second branch is connected, and in that the output current is taken from the other connection point (5) of the two branches.
3. Stromspiegelschaltung nach Anspruch 1,
dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Eingangsstrom dem Verbin­dungspunkt (5) zugeführt wird, der mit Basis eines Tran­sistors (3) im zweiten Zweig verbunden ist, und daß der Ausgangsstrom dem anderen Verbindungspunkt (6) oder dem Kollektor (7) desjenigen Transistors (4) im zweiten Zweig entnommen wird, dessen Emitter mit dem anderen Verbin­dungspunkt (6) verbunden ist.
3. current mirror circuit according to claim 1,
characterized in that the input current is supplied to the connection point (5) which is connected to the base of a transistor (3) in the second branch, and in that the output current to the other connection point (6) or the collector (7) of that transistor (4) in second branch is removed, the emitter of which is connected to the other connection point (6).
4. Stromspiegelschaltung nach Anspruch 3,
dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Kollektoren der beiden Transistoren (3, 4) des zweiten Zweiges miteinander verbunden sind.
4. current mirror circuit according to claim 3,
characterized in that the collectors of the two transistors (3, 4) of the second branch are connected to one another.
5. Stromspiegelschaltung nach Anspruch 1,
gekennzeichnet durch ihre Verwendung zur Kompensation des der Wurzel des Stromverstärkungsfaktors der Transistoren einer Schaltung (11...19) oder dem Kehrwert dieses Wertes proportionalen Ruhestroms in einer integrierten Schaltung.
5. current mirror circuit according to claim 1,
characterized by their use for compensating the quiescent current proportional to the root of the current amplification factor of the transistors of a circuit (11 ... 19) or the reciprocal of this value in an integrated circuit.
EP87202445A 1986-12-10 1987-12-08 Current mirror circuit Expired - Lifetime EP0275582B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE3642167 1986-12-10
DE19863642167 DE3642167A1 (en) 1986-12-10 1986-12-10 CURRENT MIRROR SWITCHING

Publications (2)

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EP0275582A1 true EP0275582A1 (en) 1988-07-27
EP0275582B1 EP0275582B1 (en) 1991-11-21

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DE (2) DE3642167A1 (en)

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US5014010A (en) * 1989-04-10 1991-05-07 Texaco Inc. Dual frequency microwave water cut monitoring means and method
DE4122029C1 (en) * 1991-07-03 1992-11-26 Texas Instruments Deutschland Gmbh, 8050 Freising, De
US5122686A (en) * 1991-07-18 1992-06-16 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Power reduction design for ECL outputs that is independent of random termination voltage
NL2004658C2 (en) 2010-05-04 2011-11-07 Ppe Holland METHOD, COMPOSITION AND DEVICE FOR APPLYING A STRUCTURED LAYER TO A SUBSTRATE.

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DE3035272A1 (en) * 1979-09-18 1981-04-02 RCA Corp., 10020 New York, N.Y. OPERATIONAL TRANSCONDUCTIVE AMPLIFIER WITH A NON-LINEAR COMPONENT COMPONENT AMPLIFIER
US4507573A (en) * 1981-11-06 1985-03-26 Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Current source circuit for producing a small value output current proportional to an input current

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Also Published As

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JP2628663B2 (en) 1997-07-09
JPS63157215A (en) 1988-06-30
DE3774686D1 (en) 1992-01-02
EP0275582B1 (en) 1991-11-21
DE3642167A1 (en) 1988-06-30
US4812734A (en) 1989-03-14

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