Darlington Circuit with a Driver Amplifier

An apparatus comprising:

• an amplifier circuit including an input port and an output port, the amplifier circuit comprising:
• a driver amplifier including a driver amplifier input, a driver amplifier output, and means for amplifying a signal, the driver amplifier coupled to the input port via the driver amplifier input;
• a power amplifier including a power amplifier input and a power amplifier output, the power amplifier coupled to the driver amplifier output via the power amplifier input and to the output port via the power amplifier output;
• and
• means for clamping a supply voltage of the means for amplifying a signal.

A method comprising:

• accepting a signal at a signal input of an integrated circuit die;
• accepting a supply voltage at a power input of the integrated circuit die;
• amplifying, using a driver amplifier and the supply voltage, the signal to produce a first amplified signal;
• amplifying, using a power amplifier, an intermediate signal to produce a second amplified signal, the intermediate signal at least based on the first amplified signal;
• and
• clamping the supply voltage using two or more transistors that are coupled together in a Darlington transistor arrangement.