Floating millivolt reference for PTAT current generation in Subthreshold MOS LSIs

A floating millivolt reference circuit to generate a PTAT current was developed by using MOSFETs operated in the subthreshold region. The circuit generates a floating voltage of about 10 mV. The variations in the reference are ±2.7 % in a temperature range from -20 to 100 °C. The accuracy of the reference circuit can be improved to ±0.3 % with a correction technique using a curvature-correction circuit. The total power consumption of the circuit was 4.6 μW at 100 °C.