High performance reconfigurable voltage buffers
AssigneeAnalog Devices, Inc.
InventorAHMED MOHAMED ABDELATTY ALI
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In this disclosure, new structures for high-performance voltage buffers (source followers and emitter followers) are described. The structures achieve high performance (linearity) and reduce power consumption. In addition, they are reconfigurable to optimize the performance and power consumption depending on the input frequency range.
Claims21
A voltage buffer having a voltage input node and a voltage output node, the voltage buffer comprising:
- a source follower device having a first terminal connected to the voltage input node and a second terminal connected to the voltage output node;
- a cascode current source device connected to the second terminal of the source follower device;
- and
- a bootstrap device configured to control the variation of the voltage across the third terminal and the second terminal of the source follower device.
A reconfigurable voltage buffer having a voltage input node and a voltage output node, the reconfigurable voltage buffer comprising:
- a source follower device having a first terminal connected to the voltage input node and a second terminal connected to the voltage output node;
- a cascode current source device, comprising a first transistor device and a second transistor device in a cascode configuration, wherein the source of the first transistor device is connected to drain of the second transistor device, and the drain of the first transistor device is connected to the second terminal of the source follower device;
- a bootstrap device configured to control the variation of the voltage across the third terminal and the second terminal of the source follower device;
- a first capacitor having a first terminal connected to the voltage input node;
- a third transistor device having a source connected to the gate of the first transistor device;
- a current source;
- and
- one or more switches for reconfiguring one or more connections of the first capacitor, the third transistor device, and the current source to change the topology of the reconfigurable voltage buffer.
A reconfigurable voltage buffer system, wherein the system comprises:
- a controller for receiving input specifying one or more desired characteristics for the voltage buffer and for generating control signals based on the input;
- a reconfigurable voltage buffer comprising:
- a source follower device having a first terminal connected to the voltage input node and a second terminal connected to the voltage output node;
- a cascode current source device, comprising a first transistor device and a second transistor device in a cascode configuration, wherein the source of the first transistor device is connected to drain of the second transistor device, and the drain of the first transistor device is connected to the second terminal of the source follower device;
- a bootstrap device configured to control the variation of the voltage across the third terminal and the second terminal of the source follower device;
- a first capacitor having a first terminal connected to the voltage input node;
- a third transistor device having a source connected to the gate of the first transistor device;
- a current source;
- and
- one or more switches, controllable by the control signals, for reconfiguring one or more connections of the first capacitor, the third transistor device, and the current source to change the topology of the reconfigurable voltage buffer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.