Electronic – How to switch between accurate current sources

current-sourcemosfetprecision

I would like to switch between two resistor loads in order to change a current source value. The current way that I am doing it is with something like this:

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

Where M1 and M4 are low (< 10mΩ) Rds(on) MOSFETs at 8.5V Vgs.

Is there a better way to do this? Changing Vref changes the compliance of the current source, so it would be better to change the resistor. Unfortunately, the resistors value (the dominant error term here) is known to .1%, so M1 needs to be < .1% of R1 (or <10mΩ), and these MOSFETs are a little on the expensive side.

Best Answer

You are making your life unnecessarily difficult. Instead of switching both sense resistors,

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

Also, you should look carefully at your MOSFET's Rds(on) rating. Usually, the rating is given at large currents. Since you are only dealing with 100 mA max, you can probably get away with a cheaper FET.