Bias current generators with wide dynamic range

This paper describes CMOS circuits that generate a wide-ranging set of fixed bias currents, spanning at least 6 decades down to picoamperes. A master current generated by a bootstrapped current reference is successively divided by a current splitter to generate the desired references. An unpublished startup circuit and a power control mechanism are described. Measurements from a 0.35μm implementation are presented and non-idealities are investigated. Readers are directed to a design kit that makes it simple to generate the layout for a bias generator with a set of desired currents for scalable MOSIS CMOS processes.