Voltage regulator
View Patent ↗Provided is a voltage regulator which is not affected by a variation in output impedance of a reference voltage circuit, that is, which is configured to output voltage with a small change due to temperature. Two reference voltages respectively having positive and negative temperature coefficients are added together through transconductance amplifiers having large input impedances, respectively, and the resultant is amplified.
1. A voltage regulator, comprising:
a first reference voltage circuit configured to output a first reference voltage having a positive temperature coefficient;
a second reference voltage circuit configured to output a second reference voltage having a negative temperature coefficient;
a feedback circuit configured to divide an output voltage output from an output transistor to generate a feedback voltage, and to output the feedback voltage; and
an error amplifier circuit configured to amplify an error between the feedback voltage and the first reference voltage and an error between the feedback voltage and the second reference voltage, and to output the amplified errors, thereby controlling a gate of the output transistor,
the error amplifier circuit comprising:
a first transconductance amplifier configured to output a first output current and a second output current that are based on a voltage difference between the first reference voltage and the feedback voltage;
a second transconductance amplifier configured to output a third output current and a fourth output current that are based on a voltage difference between the second reference voltage and the feedback voltage;
an addition stage configured to output a first added current obtained by adding the first output current and the third output current together, and a second added current obtained by adding the second output current and the fourth output current together; and
an amplifier stage configured to convert the first added current and the second added current into voltages, and to amplify a difference between the voltages.
2. A voltage regulator according to claim 1 , wherein one of a current that a current source of the first transconductance amplifier causes to flow and a current that a current source of the second transconductance amplifier causes to flow is adjusted, to thereby adjust how much one of the positive temperature coefficient of the first reference voltage circuit and the negative temperature coefficient of the second reference voltage circuit affects the output voltage of the voltage regulator.
3. A voltage regulator according to claim 1 ,
wherein the feedback circuit is configured to output a first feedback voltage and a second feedback voltage,
wherein the first feedback voltage is input to the first transconductance amplifier, and
wherein the second feedback voltage is input to the second transconductance amplifier.