A linear cross-coupled gate-driven quasi-floating bulk low-power wide input range transconductor.

Area of Science:

• * Electrical Engineering
• * Biomedical Engineering
• * Analog Integrated Circuit Design

Background:

• * Operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs) are crucial for signal conditioning in healthcare applications, demanding high linearity and low power consumption.
• * Conventional techniques struggle to achieve both high linearity and low power at low supply voltages, posing a challenge for accurate bio-signal processing.
• * Existing OTAs often lack the required performance metrics for sensitive medical device applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To propose a novel operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) architecture for healthcare applications.
• * To achieve high linearity and low-power operation at a low supply voltage of ±0.5 V.
• * To demonstrate the suitability of the proposed OTA for accurate bio-signal conditioning.

Main Methods:

• * Design of a cross-coupled gate-driven quasi-floating bulk (CGDQFB) MOSFET OTA.
• * Integration of source-degenerated linearization techniques.
• * Post-layout simulations using a 180 nm standard CMOS process.

Main Results:

• * Achieved a transconductance of 0.321 μS, output impedance of 331 MΩ, and DC gain of 40.54 dB.
• * Demonstrated a wide input voltage range of 626.7 mV with low total harmonic distortion (THD) of 51.09 dB.
• * Exhibited ultra-low power consumption of 0.45 μW and minimal gain/THD variability (0.003/0.036) over 200 Monte Carlo iterations.

Conclusions:

• * The proposed CGDQFB OTA meets the stringent requirements for high-quality, accurate signal conditioning in healthcare.
• * Its low-power operation and high linearity at low supply voltages make it a suitable choice for wearable and implantable bio-signal monitoring devices.
• * This design advances the development of efficient and reliable analog front-ends for next-generation medical technologies.