An information theoretic approach to optimal amplifier operation

Author

Nelson, Nicole M. ; Abshire, Pamela A.

Author_Institution

Electr. & Comput. Eng., Maryland Univ., College Park, MD

fYear

2005

fDate

7-10 Aug. 2005

Firstpage

13

Abstract

Amplifier performance can be severely degraded by the presence of intrinsic physical noise sources. We analyze the information transfer rates for simple and wide-range operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs) using the principles of information theory. Frequency transfer characteristics and input-referred noise of both simple and wide-range OTAs are modeled using process dependent noise parameters to determine the frequency ranges of operation that provide minimum noise and maximum information capacity. The theoretical predictions of channel capacity are compared with empirical estimates of capacity determined using transfer characteristics and output noise obtained experimentally. The amplifiers have been fabricated in a commercially available 0.5mum process

Keywords

circuit noise; information theory; network analysis; operational amplifiers; 0.5 micron; OTA; frequency transfer characteristics; information theory; input-referred noise; intrinsic physical noise; operational transconductance amplifiers; optimal amplifier operation; process dependent noise parameters; 1f noise; Channel capacity; Circuit noise; Frequency; Gaussian channels; Gaussian noise; Operational amplifiers; Signal to noise ratio; Transconductance; Transfer functions;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Circuits and Systems, 2005. 48th Midwest Symposium on

Conference_Location

Covington, KY

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9197-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSCAS.2005.1594027

Filename

1594027