11/10/2003 The MOSFET Current Mirror 1/5

G D
V V =
GS DS
V V =
t GS DS
V V V >
t GS
V V >
( )
2
t GS D
I K V V =
D
I
ref
I
0
s
V =
ref
t D
I
V V
K
= +
The MOSFET
Current Mirror

Consider the following MOSFET circuit:
+
V
GS

-
I
D

R
V
DD


Note , therefore:



and thus:



So, if , then the
MOSFET is in saturation!

We know that for a MOSFET in saturation, the drain current is
equal to:


Say we want this current to be a specific valuecall it .

Since , we find that from the above equation, the drain
voltage must be:

11/10/2003 The MOSFET Current Mirror 2/5
DD D
ref
V V
I
R

=
ref
I
DD D
ref
V V
R
I

=
ref
t D
I
V V
K
= +
Likewise, from KVL we find that:



And thus the resistor value to achieve the desired drain current
is:

where:


Q: Why are we doing this?

A: Say we now add another component to the circuit, with
a second MOSFET that is identical to the first :

+
V
GS1

-
I
ref

R
V
DD

+
V
GS2

-
I
L

R
L

V
DD





11/10/2003 The MOSFET Current Mirror 3/5
1 2 GS GS
V V =
1 2 1 2
,
t t
K K V V = =
L
I
( )
( )
2
2 2 2
2
1 1 1
L GS t
GS t ref
I K V V
K V V I
=
= =
L ref
I I =
Q: So what is current I
L
?

A: Note that the gate voltage of each MOSFET is the
same (i.e., ), and if the MOSFETS are the same
(i.e., ), and if the second MOSFET is
likewise in saturation, its drain current is:



Therefore, the drain current of the second MOSFET is equal
to the current of the first!



Q: Wait a minute! You mean to say that the current
through the resistor R
L
is independent of the value of
resistor R
L
?

A: Absolutely! As long as the second MOSFET is in
saturation, the current through R
L
is equal to I
ref
period.

The current through R
L
is independent on the value of R
L

(provided that the MOSFET remains in saturation). Think
about what this meansthis device is a current source !
11/10/2003 The MOSFET Current Mirror 4/5
ref
I
2 2 2 GS t DS
V V V >
0
s
V =
2 2 2 G t D
V V V >
2 L D DD ref
V V R I =
2 2 1 1 L G t G t DD ref
V R I V V V V > =

V
DD

R
L

I
ref

Current Source
V
DD

I
ref

R
V
DD

R
L












Remember, the second MOSFET must be in saturation for the
current through R
L
to be a constant value . As a result, we
find that:


or for this example, since :



Since , we find that in order for the MOSFET
to be in saturation:



Or, sated another way, we find that the load resistor R
L
can be
no larger than:
11/10/2003 The MOSFET Current Mirror 5/5
1 1 G t DD
L
ref
V V V
R
I
+
<
1 G DD ref
V V R I =
1 t
L
ref
V
R R
I
< +
1 t ref
R V I +
2 DS
V
2 2 GS t
V V
ref
I



Where we know that:



and thus we can alternatively write the above equation as:





If the load resistor becomes larger than , the
voltage will drop below the excess gate voltage ,
and thus the second MOSFET will enter the triode region. As a
result, the drain current will not equal --the current source
will stop working!

Although the current sink presented here is sometimes
referred to as a current sink, understand that the circuit is
clearly a way of designing a current source.