A class‐AB flipped voltage follower cell with high symmetrical slew rate and high current sourcing/sinking capability

Abstract

Summary The paper presents a class‐AB flipped voltage follower (FVF) cell based on quasi‐floating gate and bulk‐driven techniques. The quasi‐floating gate technique is used to increase the current sinking capability, whereas the bulk‐driven technique is used to enhance the current sourcing capability by reducing the threshold voltage. Using these two techniques, the proposed class‐ AB FVF cell offers high current sinking and sourcing capabilities. Also, it provides high symmetrical slew rate without any additional circuitry. The physical layout of the proposed class‐ AB FVF cell has been designed in Cadence Virtuoso Layout XL editor using BSIM3v3 180‐nm CMOS technology, and post‐layout simulation results have been presented to validate its performance. The corner analysis of the proposed class‐ AB FVF cell has also been performed with temperature and supply voltage as design variables to show its performance under extreme conditions.