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US 11,601,126 B2Granted
RF switch stack with charge redistribution
AssigneepSemi Corporation
InventorSimon Edward Willard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and devices to address body leakage current generation and bias voltage distribution associated with body leakage current in an OFF state of a FET switch stack are disclosed. The devices include charge redistribution arrangements and bridge networks to perform coupling/decoupling to/from the FET switch stack. Detailed structures of such bridge networks are also described.
Claims21
A field effect transistor (FET) switch stack circuit comprising:
- i) a stacked configuration of series-connected FET transistors;
- ii) a drain/source charge redistribution resistive ladder comprising series-connected drain/source charge redistribution resistors and a set of one or more drain/source tapping points in correspondence with drains or sources of FET transistors of the series-connected FET transistors;
- iii) a body charge redistribution resistive ladder comprising series-connected body charge redistribution resistors and a set of one or more body tapping points in correspondence with bodies of FET transistors of the series-connected FET transistors;
- and
- iv) a drain-body bridge network configured to selectively couple/decouple the set of one or more drain/source tapping points with/from the set of one or more body tapping points, thus selectively coupling/decoupling drains or sources of the FET transistors with/from bodies of the FET transistors to redistribute charges throughout the FET transistors, and
- wherein:
- each body charge redistribution resistor has a first end and a second end, and, regardless of a state of the FET switch stack,
- the first end is connected to a body terminal of a first FET transistor and
- the second end is connected to a body terminal of a second FET transistor, the first and the second FET transistors being adjacent FET transistors.
6 more elements
A radio frequency (RF) switch stack circuit comprising:
- a stack of FET transistors connected in a series configuration and configured to be coupled to an antenna to receive an RF signal;
- a body resistive ladder comprising body resistors coupled to bodies of FET transistors of the stack of FET transistors;
- a drain-source resistive ladder comprising drain-source resistors coupled to drain/sources of FET transistors of the stack of FET transistors;
- a charge redistribution resistive ladder comprising charge transfer resistors and at least one tapping point;
- and
- a bridge network configured to selectively couple/decouple the at least one tapping point of the charge redistribution resistive ladder with/from the drain-sources and/or bodies of the transistors of the stack of transistors during a portion of a period of the RF signal in order to selectively source current from the charge redistribution resistive ladder and deliver said current to the drain-source resistive ladder and/or sink current from the body resistive ladder and deliver said current to the charge redistribution resistive ladder;
- and
- wherein:
- each body resistor has a first end and a second end, and, regardless of a state of the FET switch stack,
- the first end is connected to a body terminal of a first FET transistor and
- the second end is connected to a body terminal of a second FET transistor, the first and the second FET transistors being adjacent FET transistors.
8 more elements
A radio frequency (RF) switch stack circuit comprising:
- a stack of FET transistors connected in a series configuration and configured to be coupled to an antenna to receive an RF signal;
- a body resistive ladder comprising body resistors coupled to bodies of FET transistors of the stack of FET transistors;
- a drain-source resistive ladder comprising drain-source resistors coupled to drain/sources of FET transistors of the stack of FET transistors;
- a charge redistribution resistive ladder comprising charge transfer resistors and at least one tapping point;
- and
- a bridge network configured to selectively couple/decouple the at least one tapping point of the charge redistribution resistive ladder with/from the drain-sources and/or bodies of the transistors of the stack of transistors during a portion of a period of the RF signal in order to selectively source current from the charge redistribution resistive ladder and deliver said current to the drain-source resistive ladder and/or sink current from the body resistive ladder and deliver said current to the charge redistribution resistive ladder, and
- wherein:
- the bridge network comprises at least one drain-source bridge circuit and at least one body bridge circuit, each drain-source bridge circuit configured to selectively couple a tapping point of the charge redistribution resistive ladder with a node on the drain-source resistive ladder, each body bridge circuit configured to selectively couple a tapping point of the charge redistribution resistive ladder with a node of the body resistive ladder, each drain-source bridge circuit and body bridge circuit selectively configured to be in a conductive state to enable selective coupling or a non-conductive state to disable selective coupling during different portions of the period of the RF signal.
5 more elements
A radio frequency (RF) switch stack circuit comprising:
- a stack of FET transistors connected in a series configuration and configured to be coupled to an antenna to receive an RF signal;
- a body resistive ladder comprising body resistors coupled to bodies of FET transistors of the stack of FET transistors;
- a drain-source resistive ladder comprising drain-source resistors coupled to drain/sources of FET transistors of the stack of FET transistors;
- a charge redistribution resistive ladder comprising charge transfer resistors and at least one tapping point;
- and
- a bridge network configured to selectively couple/decouple the at least one tapping point of the charge redistribution resistive ladder with/from the drain-sources and/or bodies of the transistors of the stack of transistors during a portion of a period of the RF signal in order to selectively source current from the charge redistribution resistive ladder and deliver said current to the drain-source resistive ladder and/or sink current from the body resistive ladder and deliver said current to the charge redistribution resistive ladder;
- and
- wherein:
- the charge redistribution resistive ladder comprises a first charge redistribution ladder with at least one first tapping point connectable to drain-sources of transistors of the stack of transistors through the bridge network and a second charge redistribution ladder with at least one second tapping point connectable to bodies of transistors of the stack of transistors through the bridge network.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.