An Analog Controllable CMOS Constant-Power Source for a Thermally-Based Sensor Interface Using a Resistive Mirror Architecture

A CMOS controllable constant-power source suitable for thermal-based sensor applications is presented in this paper. It is based on the resistive mirror method. The stability of the proposed controllable constant-power source is not dependent on either the load resistance or the generated power. A generated power dynamic range of 46.2 (33.3 dB), a load resistance dynamic range of 5 (14 dB), a voltage efficiency of 0.81, and a relative error of the generated power less than 2.3 %, with a single supply voltage of 10 V have been measured. The stability test has been carried out using the resistive load in a pulse mode operation confirming the predictions of the analysis performed. In addition, a figure of merit is introduced in order to improve the quality of the performance comparison among the state-of-the-art in the area of controllable constant-power sources.