CMOS Analog AGC for Biomedical Applications

• DOI: 10.3390/electronics9050878
• Publication Date: 2020-05-26T07:29:10Z
• Authors: Ricardo Bolaños-P...; José Miguel Rocha...; Alejandro Díaz-Sá...; Jaime Ramirez-Angulo; Esteban Tlelo-Cua...
• Keywords: non-linear systems; CMOS; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; analog AGC; 02 engineering and technology; 7. Clean energy

In this paper, we present the design of an analog Automatic Gain Control with a small silicon area and reduced power consumption using a 0.5 μ m process. The design uses a classical approach implementing the AGC system with simple blocks, such as: peak detector, difference amplifier, four-quadrant multiplier, and inversor amplifier. Those blocks were realized by using a modified Miller type OPAMP, which allows indirect compensation, while the peak detector uses a MOS diode. The AGC design is simulated using the Tanner-Eda environment and Berkeley models BSIM49 of the On-Semiconductor C5 process, and it was fabricated through the MOSIS prototyping service. The AGC system has an operation frequency of around 1 kHz, covering the range of biomedical applications, power consumption of 200 μ W, and the design occupies a silicon area of approximately 508.8 μ m × 317.7 μ m. According to the characteristics obtained at the experimental level (attack and release time), this AGC can be applied to hearing aid systems.