Low power output-capacitorless class-AB CMOS LDO regulator

This paper presents an output-capacitorless class-AB low-dropout (LDO) regulator with load current sinking and sourcing ability. The proposed LDO consists of two complementary pass transistors, controlled using a level shifter technique. The transient improvement section applied to the gates of the pass devices enhances the transient performance of the LDO. The proposed LDO is designed in TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS process with input and output voltages of 1.2-2.5 V and 1 V, respectively, 10 pF output capacitor, and quiescent current of 3.14 μA, and is capable to sink and source maximum load currents of ±100 mA, giving the current efficiency of 99.99%.