A 3 A sink/source current fast transient response low-dropout G_m driven linear regulator

A 3 A sink/source G_m-driven CMOS low-dropout regulator (LDO), specially designed for low input voltage and low cost, is presented by utilizing the structure of a current mirror G_m (transconductance) driving technique, which provides high stability as well as a fast load transient response. The proposed LDO was fabricated by a 0.5 μm standard CMOS process, and the die size is as small as 1.0 mm². The proposed LDO dissipates 220 μA of quiescent current in no-load conditions and is able to deliver up to 3 A of load current. The measured results show that the output voltage can be resumed within 2 μs with a less than 1 mV overshoot and undershoot in the output current step from −1.8 to 1.8 A with a 0.1 μs rising and falling time at three 10 μF ceramic capacitors.