A Chopper Current-Feedback Instrumentation Amplifier With a 1 mHz <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$1/f$</tex> </formula> Noise Corner and an AC-Coupled Ripple Reduction Loop

Abstract

This paper presents a chopper instrumentation amplifier for interfacing precision thermistor bridges. For high CMRR and DC gain, the amplifier employs a three-stage current-feedback topology with nested-Miller compensation. By chopping both the input and intermediate stages of the amplifier, a 1 mHz 1/f noise corner was achieved at an input-referred noise power spectral density (PSD) of 15 nV/?Hz. To reduce chopper ripple, the amplifier employs a continuous-time AC-coupled ripple reduction loop. Due to its continuous-time nature, the loop causes no noise folding to DC and hence offers improved noise performance over auto-zeroed amplifiers. The loop reduces chopper ripple by more than 60 dB, to levels below the amplifier's own input-referred noise. Furthermore, a maximum input referred offset of 5 ? V and a CMRR greater than 120 dB were measured at a supply current of 230 ?A at 5 V.