Voltage reference design using 1 V power supply in 0.13 µm CMOS technology

There is a critical need for low supply voltage reference circuits in portable and implantable device applications as due to low power requirement. Several voltage references are proposed and available but a good understanding is important to select the right circuit topology for a given specification. This work compares and contrasts two major voltage reference topologies: Threshold voltage (V_T0)-based and (V_G0) Bandgap voltage-based reference circuits. Two voltage-references with 1-V supply were designed and fabricated using 130 nm CMOS process. Monte Carlo analysis was performed and the results show that the threshold voltage-based references are more susceptible to the effects of fabrication process, due to its strong correlation to substrate doping.