Subthreshold CMOS Voltage Reference

A voltage reference circuit operating with all transistors biased in weak inversion, providing a mean reference voltage of 257.5 mV, has been fabricated in 0.18 m CMOS technology. The reference voltage can be approximated by the difference of transistor threshold voltages at room temperature. Accurate subthreshold design allows the circuit to work at room temperature with supply voltages down to 0.45 V and an average current consumption of 5.8 nA. Measurements performed over a set of 40 samples showed an average temperature coefficient of 165 ppm/ C with a standard deviation of 100 ppm/ C, in a temperature range from 0 to 125 C. The mean line sensitivity is 0.44%/V, for supply voltages ranging from 0.45 to 1.8 V. The power supply rejection ratio measured at 30 Hz and simulated at 10 MHz is lower than 40 dB and 12 dB, respectively. The active area of the circuit is 0.043 mm .