An improved characterisation technique for amplifiers used in high-speed switched-capacitor circuits

This paper has described an improved characterisation method for transconductance amplifiers. A previous method was first reviewed, and it was shown that the failure of that method to take amplifier parasitics into consideration compromised the important objective of producing characterisation data independent of the amplifier embedding. The parameters needed in an improved characterisation method were then considered, and a new amplifier characterisation technique described with examples based on a single-stage cascade MESFET amplifier. It was shown that the results of the new characterisation could be applied to a wider range of circuits than its predecessor, since the data was completely independent of the test-circuit used to produce it. In particular, it was shown to apply equally to single- and dual-amplifier networks and should, in theory, be equally applicable to networks containing an arbitrary number of amplifiers. The accuracy and simplicity of the new technique make it attractive for use in the design of high-speed SC systems, where precise circuit optimisation is essential