US 2026/0031799 A1Published application

Level shifter

AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

InventorDonghun HEO

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Abstract

Provided is a level shifter including: an inverting circuit configured to invert an input voltage and to output an inverted input voltage; a level shifting circuit configured to output first and second intermediate voltages, based on the input and inverted input voltages; and a buffer circuit configured to invert the first and second intermediate voltages, and to output an output voltage and an inverted output voltage, wherein the output and inverted output voltages swing between a first bias voltage and a power supply voltage, wherein the level shifting circuit includes an input protection circuit including input protection switching elements each including a gate terminal connected to a first or a second bias voltage line, and wherein the buffer circuit includes an output protection circuit including output protection switching elements each including a gate terminal connected to the first or second bias voltage line.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A level shifter comprising:

an inverting circuit configured to invert an input voltage that swings between a first ground voltage and a first power supply voltage and to output an inverted input voltage;
a level shifting stage circuit configured to output a first intermediate voltage and a second intermediate voltage, based on the input voltage and the inverted input voltage;
and
a buffer stage circuit configured to invert the first intermediate voltage and the second intermediate voltage, and to output an output voltage and an inverted output voltage, wherein the output voltage and the inverted output voltage swing between a first bias voltage and a second power supply voltage,
wherein the level shifting stage circuit comprises an input protection circuit comprising a plurality of input protection switching elements each comprising a gate terminal connected to a first bias voltage line or a second bias voltage line, and
wherein the buffer stage circuit comprises an output protection circuit comprising a plurality of output protection switching elements each comprising a gate terminal connected to the first bias voltage line or the second bias voltage line.

3 more elements

A level shifter comprising:

an inverting circuit configured to invert an input voltage that swings between a first ground voltage and a first power supply voltage and to output an inverted input voltage;
a first stage circuit configured to output a first intermediate voltage and a second intermediate voltage based on the input voltage and the inverted input voltage, wherein the first intermediate voltage swings between a second power supply voltage and a first bias voltage, and wherein the second intermediate voltage is an inverted voltage of the first intermediate voltage;
and
a second stage circuit configured to invert the first intermediate voltage, and to output an output voltage that swings between the first bias voltage and the second power supply voltage,
wherein the first stage circuit comprises a first input circuit comprising a first input switching element connecting, to a first ground voltage line, one end of a first intermediate path comprising a node that outputs the first intermediate voltage to the second stage circuit,
wherein the first input switching element is configured to be turned on based on the input voltage,
wherein the first stage circuit further comprises a second input switching element connecting, to the first ground voltage line, one end of a second intermediate path comprising a node that outputs the second intermediate voltage to the second stage circuit, and
wherein the second input switching element is configured to be turned on based on the inverted input voltage.

5 more elements

A level shifter comprising:

an inverting circuit configured to invert an input voltage that swings between a first ground voltage and a first power supply voltage and to output an inverted input voltage;
a first stage circuit configured to output a first intermediate voltage and a second intermediate voltage based on the input voltage and the inverted input voltage;
and
a second stage circuit configured to invert the first intermediate voltage and the second intermediate voltage to output an output voltage and an inverted output voltage,
wherein the output voltage and the inverted output voltage swing between a first bias voltage and a second power supply voltage, and
wherein the second stage circuit comprises an output protection circuit configured to, based on the input voltage and the inverted input voltage, adjust the output voltage to the first bias voltage or adjust the inverted output voltage to the first bias voltage.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.