New current conveyor for high-speed low-power current sensing

A novel low-voltage current conveyor for fast CMOS SRAM applications is presented. The sensing speed is independent of the bit-line capacitances and a positive feedback technique is employed to give the circuit a high-speed and low-power operation. Performance evaluation has shown that, based on equal area ratios, the new conveyor outperforms the conventional circuit in terms of speed and average power dissipation by at least 30%. The static behaviour of the basic circuit is analysed. HSPICE simulations have been used to characterise the circuits. Experimental results have verified the functionality of the new circuit and its superiority over the conventional CMOS current conveyor