A current conveyor is an abstraction for a three-terminal analogue electronic device. It is a form of electronic amplifier with unity gain. There are three versions of generations of the idealised device, CCI, CCII and CCIII. [1] When configured with other circuit elements, real current conveyors can perform many analogue signal processing functions, in a similar manner to the way op-amps and the ideal concept of the op-amp are used. [2]
When Sedra and Smith first introduced the current conveyor in 1968, [1] it was not clear what the benefits of the concept would be. The idea of the op-amp had been well known since the 1940s, and integrated circuit manufacturers were better able to capitalise on this widespread knowledge within the electronics industry. Monolithic current conveyor implementations were not introduced, and the op-amp became widely implemented. [2] Since the early 2000s, implementations of the current conveyor concept, especially within larger VLSI projects such as mobile phones, have proved worthwhile. [3]
Current conveyors can provide better gain-bandwidth products than comparable op-amps, under both small and large signal conditions. In instrumentation amplifiers, their gain does not depend on matching pairs of external components, only on the absolute value of a single circuit element. [2]
The CCI is a three-terminal device with the terminals designated X, Y, and Z. The potential at X equals whatever voltage is applied to Y. Whatever current flows into Y also flows into X, and is mirrored at Z with a high output impedance, as a variable constant current source. In sub-type CCI+, current into Y produces current into Z; in a CCI-, current into Y results in an equivalent current flowing out of Z. [2]
In a more versatile later design, no current flows through terminal Y. The ideal CCII can be seen as an ideal transistor with perfected characteristics. No current flows into the gate or base which is represented by Y. There is no base-emitter or gate-source voltage drop, so the emitter or source voltage (at X) follows the voltage at Y. The gate or base has an infinite input impedance (Y), while the emitter or source has a zero input impedance (X). Any current out of the emitter or source (X) is reflected at the collector or drain (Z) as a current in, but with an infinite output impedance. Because of this reversal of sense between X and Z currents, this ideal bipolar or field-effect transistor represents a CCII−. If current flowing out of X resulted in the same high-impedance current flowing out of Z, it would be a CCII+. [2]
The third configuration of the current conveyor is similar to the CCI except that the current in X is reversed, so in a CCIII whatever current flows into Y also flows out of X. [4]
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal. It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power supply to increase the amplitude of a signal applied to its input terminals, producing a proportionally greater amplitude signal at its output. The amount of amplification provided by an amplifier is measured by its gain: the ratio of output voltage, current, or power to input. An amplifier is defined as a circuit that has a power gain greater than one.
An operational amplifier is a DC-coupled high-gain electronic voltage amplifier with a differential input and, usually, a single-ended output. In this configuration, an op amp produces an output potential that is typically 100,000 times larger than the potential difference between its input terminals. The operational amplifier traces its origin and name to analog computers, where they were used to perform mathematical operations in linear, non-linear, and frequency-dependent circuits.
A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor (FET), uses only one kind of charge carrier. A bipolar transistor allows a small current injected at one of its terminals to control a much larger current flowing between the terminals, making the device capable of amplification or switching.
A negative-feedback amplifier is an electronic amplifier that subtracts a fraction of its output from its input, so that negative feedback opposes the original signal. The applied negative feedback can improve its performance and reduces sensitivity to parameter variations due to manufacturing or environment. Because of these advantages, many amplifiers and control systems use negative feedback.
In electronics, negative resistance (NR) is a property of some electrical circuits and devices in which an increase in voltage across the device's terminals results in a decrease in electric current through it.
A differential amplifier is a type of electronic amplifier that amplifies the difference between two input voltages but suppresses any voltage common to the two inputs. It is an analog circuit with two inputs and and one output , in which the output is ideally proportional to the difference between the two voltages:
A buffer amplifier is one that provides electrical impedance transformation from one circuit to another, with the aim of preventing the signal source from being affected by whatever currents that the load may impose. The signal is 'buffered from' load currents. In other words, a buffer turns a non-ideal voltage or current source into a "more ideal" one, that is, one with a lower internal impedance. Two main types of buffer exist: voltage buffer and current buffer.
A gyrator is a passive, linear, lossless, two-port electrical network element proposed in 1948 by Bernard D. H. Tellegen as a hypothetical fifth linear element after the resistor, capacitor, inductor and ideal transformer. Unlike the four conventional elements, the gyrator is non-reciprocal. Gyrators permit network realizations of two-(or-more)-port devices which cannot be realized with just the conventional four elements. In particular, gyrators make possible network realizations of isolators and circulators. Gyrators do not however change the range of one-port devices that can be realized. Although the gyrator was conceived as a fifth linear element, its adoption makes both the ideal transformer and either the capacitor or inductor redundant. Thus the number of necessary linear elements is in fact reduced to three. Circuits that function as gyrators can be built with transistors and op-amps using feedback.
In electronics, a common collector amplifier is one of three basic single-stage bipolar junction transistor (BJT) amplifier topologies, typically used as a voltage buffer.
A current mirror is a circuit designed to copy a current through one active device by controlling the current in another active device of a circuit, keeping the output current constant regardless of loading. The current being "copied" can be, and sometimes is, a varying signal current. Conceptually, an ideal current mirror is simply an ideal inverting current amplifier that reverses the current direction as well, or it could consist of a current-controlled current source (CCCS). The current mirror is used to provide bias currents and active loads to circuits. It can also be used to model a more realistic current source.
In electrical engineering, the input impedance of an electrical network is the measure of the opposition to current (impedance), both static (resistance) and dynamic (reactance), into a load network that is external to the electrical source network. The input admittance is a measure of the load network's propensity to draw current. The source network is the portion of the network that transmits power, and the load network is the portion of the network that consumes power.
A current source is an electronic circuit that delivers or absorbs an electric current which is independent of the voltage across it.
This article illustrates some typical operational amplifier applications. A non-ideal operational amplifier's equivalent circuit has a finite input impedance, a non-zero output impedance, and a finite gain. A real op-amp has a number of non-ideal features as shown in the diagram, but here a simplified schematic notation is used, many details such as device selection and power supply connections are not shown. Operational amplifiers are optimised for use with negative feedback, and this article discusses only negative-feedback applications. When positive feedback is required, a comparator is usually more appropriate. See Comparator applications for further information.
A Wilson current mirror is a three-terminal circuit that accepts an input current at the input terminal and provides a "mirrored" current source or sink output at the output terminal. The mirrored current is a precise copy of the input current. It may be used as a Wilson current source by applying a constant bias current to the input branch as in Fig. 2. The circuit is named after George R. Wilson, an integrated circuit design engineer who worked for Tektronix. Wilson devised this configuration in 1967 when he and Barrie Gilbert challenged each other to find an improved current mirror overnight that would use only three transistors. Wilson won the challenge.
The operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) is an amplifier whose differential input voltage produces an output current. Thus, it is a voltage controlled current source (VCCS). There is usually an additional input for a current to control the amplifier's transconductance. The OTA is similar to a standard operational amplifier in that it has a high impedance differential input stage and that it may be used with negative feedback.
In electronics, a differentiator is a circuit designed to produce an output approximately proportional to the rate of change of the input. A true differentiator cannot be physically realized, because it has infinite gain at infinite frequency. A similar effect can be achieved, however, by limiting the gain above some frequency. The differentiator circuit is essentially a high-pass filter. An active differentiator includes some form of amplifier, while a passive differentiator is made only of resistors, capacitors and inductors.
In the field of electronics, a technique where part of the output of a system is used at startup can be described as bootstrapping.
In graphical analysis of nonlinear electronic circuits, a load line is a line drawn on the current–voltage characteristic graph for a nonlinear device like a diode or transistor. It represents the constraint put on the voltage and current in the nonlinear device by the external circuit. The load line, usually a straight line, represents the response of the linear part of the circuit, connected to the nonlinear device in question. The points where the characteristic curve and the load line intersect are the possible operating point(s) of the circuit; at these points the current and voltage parameters of both parts of the circuit match.
The input offset voltage is a parameter defining the differential DC voltage required between the inputs of an amplifier, especially an operational amplifier (op-amp), to make the output zero.
The Miller theorem refers to the process of creating equivalent circuits. It asserts that a floating impedance element, supplied by two voltage sources connected in series, may be split into two grounded elements with corresponding impedances. There is also a dual Miller theorem with regards to impedance supplied by two current sources connected in parallel. The two versions are based on the two Kirchhoff's circuit laws.