A real-time self-calibrated current mirror for wide range current reference generation, signal reproduction and delaying

Current Mirrors are widely used in current mode circuits like A/D Converters, current conveyors, filters etc. The most important features of a current mirror are its precision, its input and output, resistance and minimum voltage and its frequency response. Although several mirrors with extremely small current transfer error have been presented, this error is usually measured in the typical case. This error may significantly differ in real-time conditions depending on mismatches, process and temperature variations. Stimulated by the current reference generation required in an A/D Converter with novel binary tree architecture that has been recently presented, an appropriate current mirror architecture supported by real time calibration logic is described in this paper. This mirror can generate a high enough output current (up to 1 mA), with relatively low transfer error (<4%), in a descent frequency range of up to 1 GHz. It requires a 1–1.2 V voltage supply and dissipates a power that can be as low as 0.3 mW. The error is measured using mismatch and process variation Monte Carlo post-layout simulations in TSMC 90 nm process.