Abstract: To meet the accuracy requirement for the bandgap voltage reference by the increasing data conversion precision of integrated circuits, a high-order curvature-compensated bandgap voltage reference is presented employing the characteristic of bipolar transistor current gain exponentially changing with temperature variations. In addition, an over-temperature protection circuit with a thermal hysteresis function to prevent thermal oscillation is proposed. Based on the CSMC 0.5 μm 20 V BCD process, the designed circuit is implemented; the active die area is 0.17 × 0.20 mm². Simulation and testing results show that the temperature coefficient is 13.7 ppm/K with temperature ranging from –40 to 150 ℃, the power supply rejection ratio is –98.2 dB, the line regulation is 0.3 mV/V, and the power consumption is only 0.38 mW. The proposed bandgap voltage reference has good characteristics such as small area, low power consumption, good temperature stability, high power supply rejection ratio, as well as low line regulation. This circuit can effectively prevent thermal oscillation and is suitable for on-chip voltage reference in high precision analog, digital and mixed systems.

Key words: bandgap voltage reference, curvature-compensated, power supply rejection ratio, over-temperature protection, BCD process