JPH0451085B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a voltage follower (emitter follower).

Background Art and Its Problems A conventional general voltage follower will be explained with reference to FIG. Input terminal 1 is connected to the base of NPN transistor 3 via capacitor 4.
is derived, and an output terminal 2 is derived from its emitter. The collector of transistor 3 is the positive power supply +B
The emitter is connected to the load power source -B through the load resistor 7. 5 and 6 are base bias resistors connected in series between power supplies +B and -B.

The voltage follower shown in FIG. 1 has the following drawbacks. Figure 2 shows the characteristics of the distortion rate (total harmonic distortion rate) (%) and noise level rate (%) with respect to the output level (V) of the voltage follower shown in Figure 1 in a log-log graph. . THD shows a distortion rate characteristic curve, and the minimum value of this distortion rate characteristic curve THD is approximately 0.1%, indicating that this voltage follower has a considerably poor distortion rate and a narrow dynamic range. Also, N indicates a noise level rate characteristic curve, and as the output level increases, this noise level rate characteristic curve N overlaps with the distortion rate characteristic curve THD and falls at a slope of 45 degrees, and the distortion rate characteristic curve THD becomes After reaching the minimum, it continues to drop as the output level increases. On the other hand, the distortion rate characteristic curve
As the output level increases, THD increases once it exceeds the minimum value.

Also, in the voltage follower shown in Fig. 1, there is a potential difference V _BE of about 0.6 to 0.7 V between the base and emitter of the transistor 3, so if the capacitor 4 is removed and a DC voltage is supplied to the input terminal 1, This cannot be directly transmitted to the output terminal 2.

Furthermore, in the voltage follower shown in Fig. 1, the voltage V _BE between the base and emitter of transistor 3 has a temperature characteristic, so the DC level of the output signal is -
It changes at a rate of about 2.3mV/℃.

Therefore, the present inventor has previously proposed a voltage follower as shown in FIG. 3, which improves the drawbacks of the voltage follower shown in FIG. This will be explained below. 11 is an input terminal, and 12 is an output terminal. A load resistor 20 is connected between the output terminal 12 and ground.
is connected. 13 and 14 are NPN type transistors having the same characteristics, for example. however,
One transistor 14 has its collector and base directly connected to form a diode.
Input terminal 11 is led out from the base of transistor 13 . The emitters of transistors 13 and 14 are connected in common to form a constant current source.
It is connected to the collector of an NPN type transistor 19. The emitter of transistor 19 is the negative power supply -B
connected to. For this transistor 19, an NPN type transistor 1 with the same characteristics as this one is used.
8 are connected to form a current mirror 22. Note that this transistor 18 has its collector
The bases are directly connected to form a diode. That is, the bases of the transistors 18 and 19 are connected to each other, and the connection point is connected to the positive power supply +B via the constant current source 17.
The emitters 8 and 19 are connected in common and connected to a negative power supply -B. Reference numeral 21 denotes a current mirror circuit, which is composed of PNP type transistors 15 and 16, and one transistor 15 has its collector and base connected directly to form a diode. The other transistor 16 constitutes a constant current source. The collector of transistor 13 is connected to the collector of transistor 15, and the collector of transistor 14 is connected to the collector of transistor 16. The bases of the transistors 15 and 16 are connected in common, and the emitters thereof are connected in common to the positive power supply +B.

Let us explain the function and effect of the voltage follower shown in Fig. 3. Let the constant current of the constant current source 17 be _I0 .
Since the transistors 18 and 19 of the current mirror circuit 22 have the same characteristics, the transistor 19
The same constant current I ₀ also flows through the collector of . and,
The collector currents of transistors 13 and 14 are made equal to each other by I ₀ /2 by the current folding circuit 21 . Note that the constant current source _I0 is approximately 1 to 2 mA.

Transistors 16 and 19 each act as a constant current source as described above. Also, the base/emitter (emitter/collector) of the transistor 14
During the period, it acts as a DC power source. Furthermore, the following negative feedback loop is formed in the transistor 13. That is, after the collector current of the transistor 13 is folded back by the current folding circuit 21, it is output to the emitter of the transistor 14, and thereby,
Negative feedback is applied to the emitter of transistor 13. Thus, the circuit of FIG.
An input terminal 11 is led out from the base of 3, the emitter is connected to a negative power supply -B through a load resistor (constant current source) consisting of a transistor 19, the collector is connected to a positive power supply +B, and a power supply consisting of a transistor 14 is connected from the emitter. This constitutes a voltage follower in which the output terminal 12 is led out through the terminal.

In the circuit of FIG. 3, since the base biases of transistors 15 and 16 are equal, their collector currents are also equal as described above, and therefore the emitter currents of transistors 13 and 14 are also equal. Further, the base-emitter voltage of the transistor 13 and the base-emitter voltage of the transistor 14 are equal to each other. Therefore, the DC potential of the input terminal 11 and the DC potential of the output terminal 12 become equal, and these input/output terminals 11, 12
There is no DC potential difference between the two.

Furthermore, even if the base-emitter voltage of transistor 13 changes with temperature, transistor 1
Since the base-emitter voltage of the terminal 4 also changes at the same time, a DC potential difference does not occur between the input and output terminals 11 and 12 due to temperature changes.

Furthermore, compared to the circuit of FIG. 1, the minimum value of the distortion factor is about 0.01% as shown in FIG. 4, and the distortion factor is improved and the dynamic range is also expanded.

Note that resistors having the same resistance value (several hundred ohms to 1 kilohms) can be connected to each emitter of the transistors 15 and 16, but in that case, linearity becomes good and noise can be reduced.

In the voltage follower shown in Fig. 3, as the load resistor 20 is made smaller, the right side of the distortion characteristic curve THD deteriorates in the direction of arrow a, as shown in Fig. 4, and the dynamic range decreases. It has the disadvantage of being narrow. If the constant current _I0 of the transistor 19 constituting the constant current source is forcibly increased, the distortion rate becomes good, but at the cost of this, power consumption increases and noise increases, which is not preferable.

Purpose of the Invention In view of the above, the present invention relates to an improvement of the voltage follower as shown in FIG. The purpose of the present invention is to propose a voltage follower that does not become narrow and has no risk of increasing noise.

Summary of the Invention The voltage follower according to the present invention includes a transistor whose base is supplied with an input signal, a constant current source connected to the emitter of this transistor, and a constant current source connected to the collector of the transistor so that the collector current is n(>1). A current folding circuit that doubles the current is connected between this current folding circuit and a constant current source, and is configured so that when the folded current is passed, the forward voltage drop becomes equal to the voltage between the base and emitter of the transistor. A negative feedback circuit is formed by the collector of the transistor, the current folding circuit, the diode, and the emitter of the transistor, and an output signal is obtained from the midpoint of the connection between the current folding circuit and the diode.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a voltage follower in which the distortion factor does not deteriorate even if the resistance value of the load resistor is small, the dynamic range does not become narrow, and there is no risk of noise increase.

Embodiment An embodiment suitable for IC implementation of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
Portions corresponding to those in the figures are designated by the same reference numerals and redundant explanation will be omitted. The current folding circuit 21 has the same characteristics.
PNP type transistors 15, 16 ₁ , 16 ₂ , 16
₃ ...16n and resistors 23 and 24 with equal resistance connected between each emitter and the positive power supply +B
₁ , 24 ₂ , 24 ₃ . . . 24n.
However, the collector and base of the transistor 15 are directly connected to form a diode. And transistors 15, 16 ₁ , 16 ₂ , 16 ₃ ...
The bases of the transistors 16n are connected in common, and the collectors of the transistors 16 ₁ , 16 ₂ , 16 ₃ . . . 16n are connected in common.

Further, the diode 14 is an NPN type transistor 14 ₁ , 14 ₂ , 14 ₃ having the same characteristics as the transistor 13.
. . 14n, the collectors and bases of which are directly connected to form a diode, and the collectors of the transistors 14 ₁ , 14 ₂ , _{14 3} . ₂ , 16 ₃ . Furthermore, the transistor 14 ₁ , 1
A common connection point of each collector of 4 ₂ , 14 ₃ . . . 14n is connected to the output terminal 12. The collector of the transistor 13, the current return circuit 21, the diode 14, and the emitter of the transistor 13 constitute a negative feedback circuit.

Therefore, if the constant current of the constant current source 17 is I ₀ , a current of I 0 /2 flows through the collector of the transistor 13, and a current of I ₀ /2 flows from the current return circuit 21 to the diode 1.
4, a return current of nI ₀ /2 flows. Therefore,
A constant current of (n+1)·I ₀ /2 flows through the collector of the transistor 19 constituting the constant current source. In the current mirror circuit 22, the collector currents of the transistors 18 and 19 are 1:
Either make the emitter areas of transistors 18 and 19 the same ratio so that it becomes (n+1)/2, or
Alternatively, the ratio of the reciprocals of resistors 25 and 26 may be made the same.

According to the voltage follower shown in FIG.
Even if the resistance value of 0 becomes small, the distortion rate worsens,
The dynamic range never becomes narrower. still,
As n increases, the gain of the negative feedback loop increases, so the distortion rate improves, and the minimum value when n is 10 is
It will be around 0.001%.

Furthermore, since there is no need to flow an excessive current through the transistor 19 constituting the constant current source, there is no risk of an increase in power consumption or noise.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, another embodiment suitable for IC implementation of the present invention will be described.
Portions corresponding to those in the figures are designated by the same reference numerals and redundant explanation will be omitted. In this embodiment, the current folding circuit 21
, the number of transistors 16 is reduced to one, the characteristics of transistors 15 and 16 are made the same, and the resistance value of emitter resistor 24 is set to be the same as that of emitter resistor 23.
This is a case where the resistance value is set to 1/n of the resistance value. Even in this case, the return current of the current return circuit 21 is
It becomes nI ₀ /2. Note that the configuration of the diode 14 is the same as that shown in FIG.

Furthermore, as a modification of the voltage follower shown in FIG. 5, the following configuration may be adopted. That is, one transistor 15 and one transistor 16 having the same characteristics are provided as the current folding circuit 16, and the resistance values of the emitter resistors 23 and 24 are made equal. Then, the emitter area of the transistor 16 is made n times the emitter area of the transistor 15. Further, one transistor 14 having a diode configuration having the same characteristics as the transistor 13 is provided, and the emitter area of the transistor 14 is made n times the emitter area of the transistor 13. Even in this case, the effect will be the same as that shown in FIG. 5.

In addition, in the above description, the diodes 14, 15,
As No. 18, we described the case of using a double-junction type diode that is directly connected between the collector and base of a transistor, which is suitable for IC implementation.
In the case of a discrete circuit, a single junction diode may be used.

Further, the present invention is not limited to a two-power supply system, but also a single power supply system.

Next, an application circuit of the voltage follower according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 shows a case where the voltage follower according to the present invention is applied to a high pass filter (active filter).
31 and 32 are the input terminal and output terminal of the high-pass filter, respectively. 33 indicates the voltage follower according to the present invention as described above. Input terminal 31 is connected to input terminal 11 of voltage follower 33 through capacitors 34-35. Input terminal 1
1 is grounded through resistor 36. Output terminal 3
2, that is, the output terminal 12 of the voltage follower 33
is connected to capacitors 34 and 35 through feedback resistor 37.
connected to the connection midpoint of The slope of the characteristic slope of such a high-pass filter is -12 dB/octave.

Next, an embodiment in which the voltage follower according to the present invention is applied to a low-pass filter will be described. In FIG. 8, parts corresponding to those in FIG. 7 are given the same reference numerals. Input terminal 31 is connected to input terminal 11 through resistors 38-39.
Input terminal 11 is grounded through capacitor 40 . The output terminal 32, ie, the output terminal 12 of the voltage follower 33, is connected to the midpoint between the resistors 38 and 39 through the feedback capacitor 41. The slope of the slope of such a low-pass filter is -12 dB/octave.

Furthermore, by cascade-connecting the low-pass filter shown in FIG. 8 after or before the high-pass filter shown in FIG. 7, a band-pass filter with slopes of -12 dB/octave can be obtained. Since these active filters have a high input impedance to the voltage follower 33, they are good active filters.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention described above, compared to the voltage follower described in FIG. Furthermore, since there is no need to excessively increase the current of the constant current source, there is no risk of increased noise or increased power consumption.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional voltage follower, FIG. 2 is a characteristic curve diagram showing its distortion rate and noise level rate characteristics, FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing another conventional voltage follower, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a characteristic curve diagram showing distortion rate and noise level rate characteristics for explanation, FIGS. 5 and 6 are circuit diagrams showing each embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a high-pass filter and a low-pass filter to which the voltage follower according to the invention is applied. 13 is a transistor, 14 is a diode, 19
21 is a transistor constituting a current source, and 21 is a current return circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A transistor whose base is supplied with an input signal, a constant current source connected to the emitter of the transistor, and a current folding circuit connected to the collector of the transistor to fold back a current n (>1) times the collector current. and a diode connected between the current folding circuit and the current source and configured such that the forward voltage drop becomes equal to the base-emitter voltage of the transistor when the folded current is passed; A voltage follower characterized in that a negative feedback circuit is formed by the collector of the transistor, a current folding circuit, a diode, and an emitter of the transistor, and an output signal is obtained from a connection midpoint of the current folding circuit and the diode. .