METHOD FOR CLAMPING A SEMICONDUCTOR REGION AT OR NEAR GROUND
Number of patents in Portfolio can not be more than 2000
United States of America Patent
Stats
-
N/A
Issued Date -
May 14, 2009
app pub date -
Feb 19, 2008
filing date -
Mar 29, 2007
priority date (Note) -
Abandoned
status (Latency Note)
Importance
Abstract
A clamping circuit clamps a voltage received by an n-type semiconductor region without using a Schottky transistor. The clamping circuit includes a current mirror as well as first and second bipolar transistors. The current mirror receives a first current and supplies a second current in response. The first current is received by the first bipolar transistor, and the second current is received by the second bipolar transistor. The difference between the base-emitter junction voltages of the first and second bipolar transistors, in part, defines the voltage at which the n-type region is clamped. To start-up the circuit properly, current is withdrawn from the base/gate terminals of the transistors disposed in the current mirror. The circuit optionally includes a pair of cross-coupled transistors to reduce the output impedance and improve the power supply rejection ratio.
First Claim
Other Claims data not available