A New Tunable Gyrator-C-Based Active Inductor Circuit for Low Power Applications

Abstract

A new CMOS implementation of active inductor circuit based on the gyrator-C which is suitable for low-voltage and RF applications is presented in this paper. One of the critical features of active inductors which directly affect their quality factor is their series-loss resistance. In this regard, a multi-regulated cascade stage is employed in the new structure which decreases loss. Moreover, by cascading input transistor, the transistors which determine the self-resonance frequency and quality factor will be separated from each other. This results in arranging properties of designed active inductor independently. The configuration of two-stage conventional gyrators is improved which gives the proposed design more opportunities in determining and tuning its characteristics. Also by employing common-source configuration, low conductance nodes are achieved which decrease the ohm-loss of AI. Furthermore, main properties of design can be tuned without affecting each other. The power consumption of the circuit remains as low as 0.62[Formula: see text]mW, then the circuit is suitable for low power applications. The results showed that AI is suitable for RF applications over 0.2–11.8[Formula: see text]GHz frequency range. In order to verify theoretical calculations, simulations are carried out using HSPICE and level 49 parameters (BSIM3v3) in 130[Formula: see text]nm CMOS technology. In addition, Corner and Monte Carlo analyses are considered to prove the efficiency of the circuit against the process variation.