Power-on reset circuits with brownout detection
AssigneeNuvoton Technology Corporation
InventorBal S. Sandhu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Power-on reset (POR) circuits with brownout detection, including small form factor and/or low-power/low-voltage POR circuits, are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a POR circuit includes at least one current mirror and an inverter having an input coupled to the at least one current mirror. A voltage at the input of the inverter is based at least in part on (i) a current produced by the at least one current mirror and (ii) a power supply voltage. The POR circuit is configured to generate a power-on reset bar signal based at least in part on the output of the inverter. In some embodiments, the POR circuit can further include a Schmitt-trigger buffer coupled to the output of the inverter to provide hysteresis to the power-on reset bar signal.
Claims20
A power-on reset (POR) circuit, comprising:
- at least one current mirror;
- and
- an inverter having an input coupled to the at least one current mirror,
- wherein:
- a voltage at the input of the inverter is based at least in part on (i) a current produced by the at least one current mirror and (ii) a power supply voltage, and
- the POR circuit is configured to generate a power-on reset bar signal based at least in part on an output of the inverter.
A power-on reset (POR) circuit, comprising:
- a bias generation stage configured to generate a bias current based at least in part on a power supply voltage;
- a trip point generation stage coupled to the bias generation stage and configured to generate a voltage at a node based at least in part on the bias current;
- and
- an output stage coupled to the trip point generation stage and configured to generate a power-on reset bar signal based at least in part on the voltage at the node.
A method of operating a power-on reset (POR) circuit, the method comprising:
- generating a current based at least in part on a power supply voltage;
- mirroring the generated current across one or more current mirrors;
- and
- tripping an inverter based at least in part on the generated current and the power supply voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.