A Cryogenic CMOS Low Dropout Voltage Regulator Design for Space Applications

In this study, a low drop-out (LDO) voltage regulator which can operate at cryogenic temperatures is designed using cryogenic transistor models of 0.18 mu m UMC CMOS process. The designed LDO regulator can provide a 100mA load current while generating four different digitally configurable output voltage levels (0.9V, 1.2V, 1.5V, 1.8V). The designed LDO has 92mV, 80mV, 66mV and 77mV drop-out voltages for the output voltage levels 0.9V, 1.2V, 1.5V, and 1.8 V, respectively. Output voltage level varies by similar to 10mV from 77K to room temperature of 300K The post-layout simulation results of the overall LDO are presented.