Comparative analysis of information rates of simple amplifier topologies

In this paper we study the information rates, bit energy and noise efficiency factor (NEF) of three simple amplifier topologies: the common source amplifier, self biased transconductor and the simple operational transconductance amplifier (OTA). The calculated information rates, bit energy and NEF are determined by experimentally based estimates of input referred noise. The self biased transconductor was found to have the highest information rate and lowest bit energy and NEF, while the simple OTA was found to have the lowest information rate and highest bit energy and NEF.