TRANSCONDUCTANCE AMPLIFIER WITH NONLINEAR TRANSCONDUCTANCE AND LOW QUIESCENT CURRENT

A composite transconductance amplifier is formed using a single transconductance amplifier with its output connected to a load via one or more resistors in series. The single transconductance amplifier has a linear tranconductance (gm). As the current through the series resistors is increased, the voltage drops across the nodes of the resistors increase. Control terminals of separate drive circuits are connected to the various nodes and successively turn on as the current from the single transconductance amplifier slews more positive. Thus, the effective gm of the composite transconductance amplifier is based on the gm of the single transconductance amplifier and the currents contributed by the successively enabled drive circuits. Therefore, the gm is nonlinear. Pull-down drive circuits are also connected to the resistor nodes to successively pull down the current as the output from the single transconductance amplifier slews negative. The composite transconductance amplifier has low quiescent current.