Miller effect

In electronics, the Miller effect accounts for the increase in the equivalent input capacitance of an inverting voltage amplifier due to amplification of the effect of capacitance between the input and output terminals. The virtually increased input capacitance due to the Miller effect is given by

${\displaystyle C_{M}=C(1+A_{v})\,}$

where ${\displaystyle -A_{v}}$ is the gain of the amplifier and C is the feedback capacitance.

Although the term Miller effect normally refers to capacitance, any impedance connected between the input and another node exhibiting gain can modify the amplifier input impedance via this effect. These properties of the Miller effect are generalized in the Miller theorem.

The Miller effect was named after John Milton Miller.^[1] When Miller published his work in 1920, he was working on vacuum tube triodes; however, the same theory applies to more modern devices such as bipolar and MOS transistors.

Consider an ideal inverting voltage amplifier of gain ${\displaystyle -A_{v}}$ with an impedance ${\displaystyle Z}$ connected between its input and output nodes. The output voltage is therefore ${\displaystyle V_{o}=-A_{v}V_{i}}$. Assuming that the amplifier input draws no current, all of the input current flows through ${\displaystyle Z}$, and is therefore given by

${\displaystyle I_{i}={\frac {V_{i}-V_{o}}{Z}}={\frac {V_{i}(1+A_{v})}{Z}}}$.

The input impedance of the circuit is

${\displaystyle Z_{in}={\frac {V_{i}}{I_{i}}}={\frac {Z}{1+A_{v}}}.}$

If Z represents a capacitor with impedance ${\displaystyle Z={\frac {1}{sC}}}$, the resulting input impedance is

${\displaystyle Z_{in}={\frac {1}{sC_{M}}}\quad \mathrm {where} \quad C_{M}=C(1+A_{v}).}$

Thus the effective or Miller capacitance C_M is the physical C multiplied by the factor ${\displaystyle (1+A_{v})}$.^[2]

As most amplifiers are inverting (i.e. ${\displaystyle A_{v}<0}$), the effective capacitance at their inputs is increased due to the Miller effect. This can lower the bandwidth of the amplifier, reducing its range of operation to lower frequencies. The tiny junction and stray capacitances between the base and collector terminals of a Darlington transistor, for example, may be drastically increased by the Miller effects due to its high gain, lowering the high frequency response of the device.

It is also important to note that the Miller capacitance is the capacitance seen looking into the input. If looking for all of the RC time constants (poles) it is important to include as well the capacitance seen by the output. The capacitance on the output is often neglected since it sees ${\displaystyle {C}({1+1/A_{v}})}$ and amplifier outputs are typically low impedance. However if the amplifier has a high impedance output, such as if a gain stage is also the output stage, then this RC can have a significant impact on the performance of the amplifier. This is when pole splitting techniques are used.

The Miller effect may also be exploited to synthesize larger capacitors from smaller ones. One such example is in the stabilization of feedback amplifiers, where the required capacitance may be too large to practically include in the circuit. This may be particularly important in the design of integrated circuit, where capacitors can consume significant area, increasing costs.

The Miller effect may be undesired in many cases, and approaches may be sought to lower its impact. Several such techniques are used in the design of amplifiers.

A current buffer stage may be added at the output to lower the gain ${\displaystyle A_{v}}$ between the input and output terminals of the amplifier (though not necessarily the overall gain). For example, a common base may be used as a current buffer at the output of a common emitter stage, forming a cascode. This will typically reduce the Miller effect and increase the bandwidth of the amplifier.

Alternatively, a voltage buffer may be used before the amplifier input, reducing the effective source impedance seen by the input terminals. This lowers the ${\displaystyle RC}$ time constant of the circuit and typically increases the bandwidth.

Figure 2 shows an example of Figure 1 where the impedance coupling the input to the output is the coupling capacitor C_C. A Thévenin voltage source V_A drives the circuit with Thévenin resistance R_A. At the output a parallel RC-circuit serves as load. (The load is irrelevant to this discussion: it just provides a path for the current to leave the circuit.) In Figure 2, the coupling capacitor delivers a current jωC_C( v_i - v_o ) to the output node.

Figure 3 shows a circuit electrically identical to Figure 2 using Miller's theorem. The coupling capacitor is replaced on the input side of the circuit by the Miller capacitance C_M, which draws the same current from the driver as the coupling capacitor in Figure 2. Therefore, the driver sees exactly the same loading in both circuits. On the output side, a dependent current source in Figure 3 delivers the same current to the output as does the coupling capacitor in Figure 2. That is, the R-C-load sees the same current in Figure 3 that it does in Figure 2.

In order that the Miller capacitance draw the same current in Figure 3 as the coupling capacitor in Figure 2, the Miller transformation is used to relate C_M to C_C. In this example, this transformation is equivalent to setting the currents equal, that is

${\displaystyle \ j\omega C_{C}(v_{i}-v_{O})=j\omega C_{M}v_{i},}$

or, rearranging this equation

${\displaystyle C_{M}=C_{C}\left(1+{\frac {v_{o}}{v_{i}}}\right)=C_{C}(1+A_{v}).}$

This result is the same as C_M of the Derivation Section.

The present example with A_v frequency independent shows the implications of the Miller effect, and therefore of C_C, upon the frequency response of this circuit, and is typical of the impact of the Miller effect (see, for example, common source). If C_C = 0 F, the output voltage of the circuit is simply A_v v_A, independent of frequency. However, when C_C is not zero, Figure 3 shows the large Miller capacitance appears at the input of the circuit. The voltage output of the circuit now becomes

${\displaystyle v_{o}=-A_{v}v_{i}=A_{v}{\frac {v_{A}}{1+j\omega C_{M}R_{A}}},}$

and rolls off with frequency once frequency is high enough that ω C_MR_A ≥ 1. It is a low-pass filter. In analog amplifiers this curtailment of frequency response is a major implication of the Miller effect. In this example, the frequency ω_3dB such that ω_3dB C_MR_A = 1 marks the end of the low-frequency response region and sets the bandwidth or cutoff frequency of the amplifier.

It is important to notice that the effect of C_M upon the amplifier bandwidth is greatly reduced for low impedance drivers (C_M R_A is small if R_A is small). Consequently, one way to minimize the Miller effect upon bandwidth is to use a low-impedance driver, for example, by interposing a voltage follower stage between the driver and the amplifier, which reduces the apparent driver impedance seen by the amplifier.

The output voltage of this simple circuit is always A_v v_i. However, real amplifiers have output resistance. If the amplifier output resistance is included in the analysis, the output voltage exhibits a more complex frequency response and the impact of the frequency-dependent current source on the output side must be taken into account.^[3] Ordinarily these effects show up only at frequencies much higher than the roll-off due to the Miller capacitance, so the analysis presented here is adequate to determine the useful frequency range of an amplifier dominated by the Miller effect.

This example also assumes A_v is frequency independent, but more generally there is frequency dependence of the amplifier contained implicitly in A_v. Such frequency dependence of A_v also makes the Miller capacitance frequency dependent, so interpretation of C_M as a capacitance becomes more difficult. However, ordinarily any frequency dependence of A_v arises only at frequencies much higher than the roll-off with frequency caused by the Miller effect, so for frequencies up to the Miller-effect roll-off of the gain, A_v is accurately approximated by its low-frequency value. Determination of C_M using A_v at low frequencies is the so-called Miller approximation.^[2] With the Miller approximation, C_M becomes frequency independent, and its interpretation as a capacitance at low frequencies is secure.

• Miller theorem