Performance Association and Discrimination between Current-mode and Voltage-mode Operation of Monolithic Linear Circuits

In recent years a host of “new” current-mode continuous-time filters have been proposed. Although there is widespread acceptance of the premise that current-mode structures are more suitable for high frequency and low voltage applications than their voltage-mode counterparts, a valid comparison of voltage-mode and current-mode structures is conspicuously absent in the literature. In an attempt to unify current-mode and voltage-mode approaches to filter design and quantify the perceived distinctions in performance, it is shown that several of the popular continuous-time “current-mode” filters offer no performance benefits from either speed or power supply voltage viewpoints over corresponding “voltage-mode” structures beyond the obvious differences in the input and output interfaces. It is also shown that the several of the popular “current-mode” structures are topologically equivalent to well-known “voltage-mode” counterparts.