Programmable dual-drive strength output buffer with a shared boot circuit
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorWilliam C. Waldrop
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An integrated circuit device is discussed that includes an data output driver having two modes of operation for driving a data bus. The output driver includes a circuits to produce a full drive output high signal, a partial drive output high signal, a full drive output low signal and a partial drive output low signal. The output driver is protected against negative voltages on the data bus. The output driver is selectable and adaptable to drive terminated loads and unterminated loads.
Claims33
An output driver having two modes, comprising:
- a first circuit to support one of the two modes, wherein one of the two modes drives a subsequent input stage of another circuit with a termination in between the output driver and the subsequent input stage of the another circuit;
- and
- a second circuit to support the other of the two modes, wherein the other of the two modes drives the subsequent input stage of the another circuit without the termination in between the output driver and the subsequent input stage of the another circuit.
An output driver for driving data at an output, comprising:
- a full-drive pull-up circuit to drive output data high to a full level;
- a reduced-drive pull-up circuit to drive output data high at a reduced level;
- a full-drive pull-down circuit to drive output data low to a full level;
- and
- a reduced-drive pull-down circuit to drive output data low at a reduced level.
An output driver having two modes, comprising:
- a pre-driver circuit that produces a mode signal selected from a group consisting of a full-drive mode and a reduced-drive mode wherein the full drive mode is indicated by a pumped voltage level and the reduced drive mode is indicated by a supply voltage level;
- and
- an output driver coupled to the pre-driver circuit that outputs a data signal in accordance with the mode produced by the pre-driver circuit.
An output driver having two modes, comprising:
- a pre-driver circuit that produces a mode signal selected from a group consisting of a full-drive mode and a reduced-drive mode, wherein the pre-driver circuit includes a booting circuit that boots a boot-up signal to a voltage level, wherein the voltage level is selected from a regular voltage supply level or a pumped voltage supply level;
- and
- an output driver coupled to the pre-driver circuit that outputs a data signal in accordance with the mode produced by the pre-driver circuit.
An output driver having two modes to output data in a memory device, comprising:
- a pre-driver circuit that produces a mode signal selected from a group consisting of a full-drive mode and a reduced-drive mode, wherein the pre-driver circuit includes a reduced-drive pull-up driver so as to produce the reduced-drive mode at a reduced-drive node;
- and
- an output driver coupled to the pre-driver circuit that outputs a data signal in accordance with the mode produced by the pre-driver circuit.
An output driver having two drive modes, comprising:
- a first drive circuit to support one of the two modes, wherein one of the two modes drives a subsequent terminated input stage of another circuit in response to a pumped supply voltage driving the first circuit;
- and
- a second circuit to support the other of the two modes, wherein the other of the two modes drives the subsequent unterminated input stage of the another circuit in response to a normal supply voltage driving the second output drive circuit.
An output driver for driving data at an output, comprising:
- a full-drive pull-up circuit to drive output data high to a full power level in response to a pumped supply voltage level;
- a reduced-drive pull-up circuit to drive output data high at a reduced power level in response to a normal supply voltage level;
- a full-drive pull-down circuit to drive output data low to a full level;
- and
- a reduced-drive pull-down circuit to drive output data low at a reduced level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.