AN IMPROVED DIFFERENTIAL COMPARATOR WITH FIELD EFFECT DIODE OUTPUT STAGE

Abstract

In a field effect diode, carriers of a p–n junction can be modulated on-line. The p and n regions are created by two oppositely biased, and closely spaced, gates in CMOS SOI technology. Using gates as the third terminal, the field effect diode can operate as a switch or as an amplifying element. In this paper, a conventional differential comparator is designed and its performance is compared with a circuit which uses field effect diodes in its output stage. It is shown that the large current sinking and supplying capability of the field effect diode causes this comparator to operate faster than the conventional circuit, consumes less power and covers less chip area.