Translinear circuits in subthreshold MOS

In this paper we provide an overview of translinear circuit design using MOS transistors operating in subthreshold region. We contrast the bipolar and MOS subthreshold characteristics and extend the translinear principle to the subthreshold MOS ohmic region through a drain/source current decomposition. A front/back-gate current decomposition is adopted; this facilitates the analysis of translinear loops, including multiple input floating gate MOS transistors. Circuit examples drawn from working systems designed and fabricated in standard digital CMOS oriented process are used as vehicles to illustrate key design considerations, systematic analysis procedures, and limitations imposed by the structure and physics of MOS transistors. Finally, we present the design of an analog VLSI ''translinear system'' with over 590,000 transistors in subthreshold CMOS. This performs phototransduction, amplification, edge enhancement and local gain control at the pixel level.