Replica biased voltage regulator

Abstract

The invention discloses a replica biased voltage regulator circuit (100) that provides high frequency response via local positive feedback and low frequency response via a negative feedback loop. A voltage regulator circuit (100) can include current conveyor (106) that essentially forces an output voltage (Vload) to follow a replica voltage (Vrep). An operational amplifier (102) can provide negative feedback by controlling current supplied to the current conveyor (104) based on a comparison between a reference voltage (Vref) and the replica voltage (Vrep).

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates generally to a voltage regulator circuit, and more particularly to a replica bias voltage regulator circuit. Background technique [0002] In integrated circuit devices, voltage regulator circuits are used for a variety of purposes; one particular application is as one of the sections within an integrated circuit device to regulate the internal power supply voltage. More specifically, a voltage regulator may supply a power supply voltage to an array of memory cells in a memory device, two possible examples of which are, for example, dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) and static random access memories (SRAMs). [0003] A replica bias voltage regulator is one of many types of voltage regulators. Generally speaking, in a replica bias voltage regulator, the voltage established in a portion of the circuit (eg, a leg) is replicated, which is typically replicated by a larger device, and presents a load (output ) voltage, t...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0010] The traditional configuration described above has some disadvantages: First, active load regulation (for example: switching in the load device, or turning on the current source) is not a proportional response (proportional response) or continuous in time, which means that when the load current At fairly low or high, the regulation will only happen periodically, rather than load regulation all the time; due to the use of a voltage comparator (Comp), the regulation provided can be assumed to be a kind of "winner takes all" (winner takes all)" adjustment, which is the opposite of the proportionality between the load current and the compensation current

[0011] Second, traditional switching load regulation can have an undesirable delay in response, even with fast comparators, current technology still cannot guarantee a response time faster than 1-2 nanoseconds (nanoseconds, ns) , which is not sufficient in some applications (such as fast SRAMs); that is, such a load regulation mechanism is not practical in the high frequency domain (10MHz-1GHz), because even a fast voltage comparator drives the feedback loop still have a response time on the order of nanoseconds

[0012] Third, the above configuration needs to use an additional voltage comparator, which will increase the consumption of operating current

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