Compact Source-Gated Transistor Analog Circuits for Ubiquitous Sensors
Compact Source-Gated Transistor Analog Circuits for Ubiquitous Sensors
复制标题
DOI：
10.1109/jsen.2020.3012413
复制
发表时间：
2020-12-15
影响因子：
4.3
通讯作者：
Sporea, Radu A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bestelink, Eva;Niang, Kham M.;Sporea, Radu A.
几十年来，基于硅的数字电子产品经过了积极的扩展过程，遵循摩尔定律，器件结构日益复杂。与此同时，大面积电子产品继续依赖于相同的场效应晶体管结构，最大限度地减少了进化。这种限制导致了不太理想的电路设计，增加了复杂性，以解决材料特性和工艺控制方面的缺陷。目前，这种情况阻碍了物联网以外的印刷和灵活电子应用所需的新型系统的发展。在这项工作中，我们展示了源极选通晶体管的独特特性为在两个极其紧凑的电路块中实现低成本、高功能的大面积应用提供的机会。多晶硅共源放大器显示了49分贝的增益，是双晶体管单极电路中报道的最高增益。多晶硅和InGaZnO制造的电流镜除了具有出色的电流复制性能外，还能够仅通过选择相对晶体管的几何形状来控制输出电流的温度依赖关系(正、中性或负的程度)，从而为设计工程师提供了进一步的灵活性。提出了应用实例，包括用于改善信号完整性的传感器输出的本地放大，以及用于未来可穿戴设备的动态平衡操作的温度调节延迟级和定时电路。这些极具竞争力的紧凑型电路设计具有强大的性能、更高的能效和对几何变化的容忍度，这些设计将使许多应用受益：传感器前端、温度传感器、像素驱动器、偏置模拟模块和高增益放大器。
Silicon-based digital electronics have evolved over decades through an aggressive scaling process following Moore's law with increasingly complex device structures. Simultaneously, large-area electronics have continued to rely on the same field-effect transistor structure with minimal evolution. This limitation has resulted in less than ideal circuit designs, with increased complexity to account for shortcomings in material properties and process control. At present, this situation is holding back the development of novel systems required for printed and flexible electronic applications beyond the Internet of Things. In this work we demonstrate the opportunity offered by the source-gated transistor's unique properties for low-cost, highly functional large-area applications in two extremely compact circuit blocks. Polysilicon common-source amplifiers show 49 dB gain, the highest reported for a two-transistor unipolar circuit. Current mirrors fabricated in polysilicon and InGaZnO have, in addition to excellent current copying performance, the ability to control the temperature dependence (degrees of positive, neutral or negative) of output current solely by choice of relative transistor geometry, giving further flexibility to the design engineer. Application examples are proposed, including local amplification of sensor output for improved signal integrity, as well as temperature-regulated delay stages and timing circuits for homeostatic operation in future wearables. Numerous applications will benefit from these highly competitive compact circuit designs with robust performance, improved energy efficiency and tolerance to geometrical variations: sensor front-ends, temperature sensors, pixel drivers, bias analog blocks and high-gain amplifiers.