Output circuit with reduced gate voltage swings

Abstract

An output circuit has an output transistor, or a complementary pair of output transistors, that generate a bi-level voltage signal with a high output level and a low output level. The signals applied to the gates of the output transistors have high and low levels that are more narrowly separated than are the output high and low levels. For example, one gate signal may swing between the output high level and an intermediate level, and another gate signal may swing between the output low level and the same or a different intermediate level. The relatively narrow voltage swing reduces current consumption, and the intermediate level or levels can be adjusted to adjust the rise time and fall time of the output signal.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.