A configurable analog buffer dedicated to a wafer-scale prototyping platform of electronic systems

A novel, configurable and compact CMOS analog buffer, dedicated to a wafer-scale prototyping platform for electronic systems is described in this paper. The proposed buffer architecture, made in a 0.18 μm CMOS technology, is based on complementary modified differential pairs combined with single current mirrors. This analog buffer can support a wide range of operating output voltages, from V_DD - 150 mV down to V_SS + 150 mV using a 3.3 V power supply. This design offers a configurable slew-rate, which range from 66 up to 450 V/μs and a quasi unity gain for all programmed slew-rates. This feature allows the user to adjust the proposed buffer to fit its needs while limiting noise injection in the power supply as well as quiescent current. Moreover, the proposed analog buffer supports a -3 dB bandwidth from 74 up to 194 MHz. The low count of transistors, 21, yields to a very compact structure that uses only 0.001824mm² of silicon area.