A Submicrowatt 1.

1-MHz CMOS
Relaxation Oscillator With
Temperature Compensation

Yu-Hsuan Chiang and Shen-Iuan Liu, in

IEEE Transactions on Circuits and
Systems II: Express Briefs

Vanessa Furtado de lima

Vanessalima.fd@gmail.com
CI Brasil Program – BA01 Analog Design
 Outline
 Introduction
 Circuit Description
 Overview

 PTAT Current reference

 CTAT Current reference

 Oscillator

 Resistors

 Results
 Conclusion
 References

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 Introduction
 On-chip oscillators are widely employed in
low-power and low-cost applications.
 A low-power on-chip oscillator extends the
battery life of a portable device.
 Relaxation oscillators are used for on-chip
oscillators.
 However, in relaxation oscillators the delay
time between a voltage comparator and a clock
buffer is considered and is sensitive to
temperature variations.
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 Circuit Description: Overview
 The oscillation period Tro is given as:
(1)

 Since , (1) is rewritten as

(2)

 To achieve a temperature-stable oscillator, the temperature coefficients of

resistor R and the delay time of the clock buffer should be considered.

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 Circuit Description: Overview
 Reduce the temperature
coefficient of the resistor:
 Parallel/series composite resistors
with positive and negative
temperature coefficients.
 Reduce the temperature
variations due to the clock
buffer:
 Clock buffer biased by the
combined PTAT(proportional to
absolute temperature) and
CTAT(complementary to absolute
temperature) current sources.

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 Circuit Description: PTAT
 Transistors M1 and M2 work in the subthreshold
region. So,
(3) (4)

(5)

(6)
Thermal voltage

(7)

 If the temperature coefficients of R+ and R- are

cancelled, the PTAT current Ip is realized.

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 Circuit Description: CTAT
 When a NMOS transistor works in the subthreshold region,
the relation between Vgs and Vth as a function of
temperature is given as:
(8)

(9)

(10)

 KT is typically negative. Then, is

usually negative and Vgs(T) will fall as the
temperature rises.

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 Circuit Description: Oscillator

 PTAT and CTAT current sources are combined to realize the temperature-
independent currents Iref and Ib.
 The current-mode comparator and the clock buffer are biased by Iref and Ib.

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 Circuit Description: Resistor
 Resistor with a zero temperature
coefficient: serialize two resistors
with the positive and negative
temperature coefficients.
 Temperature coefficient of this
series resistor is given as:
(11)

 To reduce the temperature coefficient

sensitivity to process variations, the
parallel/series composite resistor is
used.
 The temperature coefficient of the
parallel/series resistor is given as:
(12)

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 Results
 A low-power current-mode relaxation oscillator is fabricated in a
0.18-μm CMOS process.
 The die photo of this oscillator is shown below, and the active
area is 250μm×300μm.
 The power consumption of this oscillator is 0.859μW for a supply
voltage of 1.8 V.

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 Results
 The measured output frequency versus temperature for a supply voltage of
1.8 V is shown in figure 6.
 The average temperature coefficient is 64.3 ppm/◦C from −20°C to 80 °C.

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 Conclusion
 The transistors in the subthreshold region are used to reduce
the power of the relaxation oscillator.
 The clock buffer is biased by using the PTAT and CTAT
current sources to release the temperature variations.
 The parallel/series composite resistor and the PTAT/CTAT
current sources are also used to further reduce the
temperature coefficient.
 The experimental results demonstrate that the temperature
compensation techniques are useful for this relaxation
oscillator.

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 References
 Y. H. Chiang and S. I. Liu, "A Submicrowatt 1.1-MHz
CMOS Relaxation Oscillator With Temperature
Compensation," in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and
Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 60, no. 12, pp. 837-841,
Dec. 2013.

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