Investigation into high performance high current ultra low dropout regulator

The investigation into high-performance high current ultra low dropout regulator (LDO) was described in the paper. In the circuit design, prereference is used as a method of controlling the power of circuit to minimize the effect of power variation on functional block parameter, thus achieving the goal of enhancing voltage regulation. In the layout design, trim design for bandgap reference source and output resistive sampling network is done to improve the circuit temperature performance and the output voltage accuracy; the vertical PNP transistor with higher gain is used as a regulating transistor to increase the output current. In the process technology, a unique SOI based high voltage complementary bipolar process is used which will most likely be a key to manufacturing the NEMS and nano devices we are currently developing. The maximum operational voltage of the LDO is 18V, the output voltage is 5.0V, and the accuracy is +/- 0.8%. The maximum output current is 3A. The difference between input and output voltages is less than 0.45V. The voltage regulation is less than 5mV. The current regulation is less than 25mV. The quiescent current is less than 3mA. The temperature coefficient is less than 50ppm/degree C. And the performance parameters of the LDO correspond to that of world's best LDO, and part of parameters such as voltage regulation is the best in the world.