US 4,791,382 AGranted

Driver circuit

AssigneeMitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorsToru Shiomi, Kenji Anami

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Abstract

A driver circuit comprises a bipolar transistor for passing current from a power supply potential V.sub.CC to an output terminal, two CMOS inverters connected between an input terminal and the output terminal, a diode for passing current from the output terminal to the input terminal, and an NMOSFET for passing current from the input terminal to a power supply potential V.sub.EE. When a signal applied to the input terminal falls from an "H" level to an "L" level, the potential of the output terminal is changed from V.sub.CC to V.sub.EE. At the time, current flows from the output terminal to the input terminal through the diode. In addition, the current flows to the power supply potential V.sub.EE through the NMOSFET. When the signal applied to the input terminal rises from the "L" level to the "H" level, the potential of the output terminal is changed from the V.sub.EE to the V.sub.CC. At that time, current flows from the power supply potential V.sub.CC to the output terminal through the bipolar transistor.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A driver circuit for amplifying current of an input signal of a first logical level or a second logical level and supplying the amplified current to a load, comprising

an input terminal coupled to said input signal,
an output terminal,
a first potential source for applying a potential corresponding to the first logical level,
a second potential source for applying a potential corresponding to the second logical level,
a first CMOS inverter circuit responsive to the signal applied to said input terminal for deriving to said output terminal the potential of said first potential source or the potential of said second potential source,
a first semiconductor element for passing current from said first potential source to said output terminal when the sginal applied to said input terminal is changed from the second logical level to the first logical level, and
a second semiconductor element for passing current from said output terminal to said second potential source when the signal applied to said input terminal is changed from the first logical level to the second logical level.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.