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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
A Floating-Gate Technology For Digital Cmos Processes, Bradley Minch, Paul Hasler
A Floating-Gate Technology For Digital Cmos Processes, Bradley Minch, Paul Hasler
Bradley Minch
We discuss the possibility of developing high-quality floating-gate memories and circuits in digital CMOS technologies that have only one layer of polysilicon. Here, the primary concern is whether or not we can get adequate control-gate linearity from MOS capacitors. We employ two experimental procedures to address this issue and find acceptable floating-gate circuit behaviour with MOS capacitors. First, we simultaneously characterize an MOS capacitor and a linear capacitor; the experimental data show that MOS capacitors behave similarly to linear capacitors over a finite, but usable range. Second, we characterize two typical floating-gateMOS circuit primitives, a floating-gate amplifier and a multiple-input …
An Autozeroing Floating-Gate Amplifier, Paul Hasler, Bradley Minch, Chris Diorio
An Autozeroing Floating-Gate Amplifier, Paul Hasler, Bradley Minch, Chris Diorio
Bradley Minch
We have developed a bandpass floating-gate amplifier that uses tunneling and pFET hot-electron injection to set its dc operating point adaptively. Because the hot-electron injection is an inherent part of the pFET's behavior, we obtain this adaptation with no additional circuitry. Because the gate currents are small, the circuit exhibits a high-pass characteristic with a cutoff frequency less than 1 Hz. The high-frequency cutoff is controlled electronically, as is done in continuous-time filters. We have derived analytical models that completely characterize the amplifier and that are in good agreement with experimental data for a wide range of operating conditions and …
Multiple-Input Translinear Element Networks, Bradley Minch, Paul Hasler, Chris Diorio
Multiple-Input Translinear Element Networks, Bradley Minch, Paul Hasler, Chris Diorio
Bradley Minch
We describe a new class of translinear circuits that accurately embody product-of-power-law relationships in the current signal domain. We call such circuits multiple-input translinear element (MITE) networks. A MITE is a circuit element, which we defined recently that produces an output current that is exponential in a weighted sum of its input voltages. We describe intuitively the basic operation of MITE networks and provide a systematic matrix technique for analyzing the nonlinear relationships implemented by any given circuit. We also show experimental data from three MITE networks that were fabricated in a 1.2-μm double-poly CMOS process.
A Second-Order Section Built From Autozeroing Floating-Gate Amplifiers, Paul Hasler, Theron Stanford, Bradley Minch
A Second-Order Section Built From Autozeroing Floating-Gate Amplifiers, Paul Hasler, Theron Stanford, Bradley Minch
Bradley Minch
We introduce the autozeroing floating-gate (AFGA) secondorder section. We built this second-order filter where the corner frequency and Q are electronically tunable based on a classic filter topology and principles of operational transconductance amplifiers. We built this second order filter using three AFGAs—our floating-gate amplifier that sets its operating point by the interaction of hot-electron injection and electron tunneling.
Silicon Synaptic Adaptation Mechanisms For Homeostasis And Contrast Gain Control, Shih-Chii Liu, Bradley Minch
Silicon Synaptic Adaptation Mechanisms For Homeostasis And Contrast Gain Control, Shih-Chii Liu, Bradley Minch
Bradley Minch
We explore homeostasis in a silicon integrate-and-fire neuron. The neuron adapts its firing rate over time periods on the order of seconds or minutes so that it returns to its spontaneous firing rate after a sustained perturbation. Homeostasis is implemented via two schemes. One scheme looks at the presynaptic activity and adapts the synaptic weight depending on the presynaptic spiking rate. The second scheme adapts the synaptic"threshold" depending on the neuron's activity. The threshold is lowered if the neuron's activity decreases over a long time and is increased for prolonged increase in postsynaptic activity. The presynaptic adaptation mechanism models the …
Construction And Transformation Of Multiple-Input Translinear Element Networks, Bradley Minch
Construction And Transformation Of Multiple-Input Translinear Element Networks, Bradley Minch
Bradley Minch
We present a simple algorithmic procedure for constructing a multiple-input translinear element (MITE) network from a translinear-loop equation. We also give a number of MITE-network transformations that alter the structure of the MITE network without altering the translinear-loop equation that it embodies. The results that we establish in this paper serve as foundations for the synthesis of both static and dynamic MITE networks from high-level specifications.