Ground switch
AssigneeNXP B.V.
InventorsThomas Pichler, Ivan Jesus Rebollo Pimentel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A ground switch is disclosed. The ground switch includes an antenna port, a pair of switching devices coupled with the antenna port and a charge pump coupled with the pair of devices and configured to turn on/off the pair of devices based on an AC input signal received through the antenna port and a DC offset voltage added to the AC input signal. The ground switch further includes a clamping circuit to clamp an output of the charge pump. The ground switch is configured to provide a stable ground to components of devices such that a radio frequency identification (RFID) device.
Claims16
A ground switch, comprising:
- an antenna port;
- a pair of switching devices coupled with the antenna port;
- a charge pump coupled with the pair of devices and configured to turn on/off the pair of devices based on an AC input signal received through the antenna port and a DC offset voltage added to the AC input signal, and wherein the charge pump includes an input capacitor coupled with a terminal of the antenna port;
- and
- a clamping circuit to clamp an output of the charge pump to a predefined level.
A method of providing a stable ground to circuit components of a radio frequency identification (RFID) device, the method comprising:
- receiving AC input signal from an antenna;
- generating a DC offset voltage and adding the DC offset voltage to the AC input signal using a charge pump and an input capacitor coupled between an output of the charge pump and the antenna;
- limiting the DC offset voltage to a DC offset threshold;
- and
- applying the limited DC offset voltage added to the AC input signal to a gate of a ground transistor coupled with a ground output.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.