Multifunctional Circuit with Applications in Analog Signal Processing

We will present a new approach of designing analog signal processing circuits, introducing the new concept of multifunctional structures (computational circuits based on the re-using of the same functional core for obtaining multiple linear and nonlinear circuit functions). The efficiency of the proposed design technique will be illustrated for obtaining high performances fundamental analog signal processing circuits: highly linear differential amplifiers and squaring blocks. The advantages of using this approach of designing analog signal processing structures are mainly related to the very important reducing of circuit complexity and accuracy for each developed circuit function. The circuits are designed for low-voltage low-power operations, being supplied at 0.7V and consuming between 0.3uA and 0.9uA. They allow extremely large amplitude of the input signal (between -800mV and 800mV), being able to obtain a very good accuracy of circuit functions implementations. The estimated theoretical results are confirmed by specific simulations, showing an excellent accuracy, correlated with a low-voltage low-power operation.