A Minimum-Voltage Driving Amplifier with Adaptive Three-Stage Open-Loop Gain and Folded Cascade Class-AB Output Current Control

Abstract

A driving amplifier capable of operating at a minimum voltage is proposed, aiming to subdue the distortion effect caused by large amplitude driving at the hearing aid loudspeaker. Since the linearity of a cascode amplifier usually degrades with the reduced supply voltage, a three-stage cascade amplifier having a parallel cascade second stage, and a folded cascade Class-AB output current control in place are designed. With such an arrangement, the open loop gain should still be maintained at a sufficiently high level even in the presence of increased output amplitude. Also, the minimum supply voltage required can then be reduced to merely [Formula: see text]. Fabricated on a 0.18[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process, the proposed amplifier achieves [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]dB total harmonic distortion [Formula: see text] with a loudspeaker load of 100[Formula: see text]ohm while operating from a 1.2[Formula: see text]V supply and being subject to a 1[Formula: see text]kHz sinusoidal input.