Active reversed nested Miller compensation for three-stage amplifiers

A novel frequency compensation technique for three-stage amplifiers is introduced. Compared to the traditional reversed nested Miller compensation strategy, the proposed one exploits two active stages already included in the amplifier topology, thus no extra circuitry for its implementation is needed. The technique allows to remove the right-half-plane zero and generates a left-half-plane zero, improving the phase margin. Design equations using the phase margin as design parameter are carried out. The proposed technique is used to design, using a standard CMOS 0.35-mum technology, a 2-V three-stage amplifier driving a 500-pF load. The amplifier dissipates 0.24 mW at DC and achieves a 1.75-MHz gain-bandwidth product