A 3 A sink/source current fast transient response low-dropout Gm driven linear regulator

A 3 A sink/source Gm-driven CMOS low-dropout regulator (LDO), specially designed for low input voltage and low cost, is presented by utilizing the structure of a current mirror Gm (transconductance) driving technique, which provides high stability as well as a fast load transient response. The proposed LDO was fabricated by a 0.5 ?m standard CMOS process, and the die size is as small as 1.0 mm2. The proposed LDO dissipates 220 ?A of quiescent current in no-load conditions and is able to deliver up to 3 A of load current. The measured results show that the output voltage can be resumed within 2 ?s with a less than 1 mV overshoot and undershoot in the output current step from ?1.8 to 1.8 A with a 0.1 ?s rising and falling time at three 10 ?F ceramic capacitors.