Band-gap voltage reference

摘要

An improved band-gap voltage reference apparatus and method is detailed that incorporates an amplifier to provide for improved compensation and temperature stability to the voltage reference circuit by increasing the effective h_FE (also called beta) of the bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) used in the band-gap voltage reference circuit. This also allows the band-gap voltage reference circuit to operated with a lower overall power usage and with lower supply voltages. Additionally, the improved band-gap voltage reference apparatus and method also allows for band-gap voltage references to be implemented in integrated circuit technologies that do not have high quality BJTs natively available in the manufacturing process of the technology.