Linear Digital-to-Analog Converters with Constant Current Consumption

Abstract

An electronic device may include wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include a radio-frequency transmit path with a radio-frequency digital-to-analog converter (RFDAC). The RFDAC may include a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit and a corresponding replica circuit. The RFDAC may receive a digital code that programs an amount of current consumption by the DAC circuit to meet requirements associated with transmission of the radio-frequency signal. The RFDAC may process the digital code and may use a portion of the digital code to control the replica circuit to produce an inverse replica of the current consumed by the DAC circuit, which may be shunted to ground. This may achieve a constant current consumption by the RFDAC that allows for increased linearity of the RFDAC.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.