Analytical comparison of reversed nested Miller frequency compensation techniques

In this paper, novel and previously proposed reversed nested Miller compensation (RNMC) networks are analyzed and compared, and their design equations are also presented. Hence, this paper is the natural extension of a previous paper by the authors (Int. J. Circ. Theor. Appl. 2008; 36(1):53-80), where only the nested Miller compensation topologies were treated. In particular, a coherent and comprehensive analytical comparison of the RNMC topologies, including two new networks presented for the first time, is performed by means of the figure of merit that expresses a trade-off among gain-bandwidth product, load capacitance and total transconductance, for equal values of phase margin (Int. J. Circ. Theor. Appl. 2008; 36(1):53-80). The analysis shows that there is no unique optimal solution among the RNMC topologies, as this depends on the load condition as well as on the relative transconductance magnitude of each amplifier stage. From this point of view, the proposed comparison also outlines useful design guidelines for the optimization of large-signal and small-signal performance. Simulations confirming the effectiveness of the proposed design methodology and analytical comparison are also included. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.