US 5,329,183 AGranted

ECL-CMOS level converter circuit

AssigneeNEC Corporation

InventorYukio Tamegaya

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Abstract

An ECL-CMOS level converter circuit capable of operating at a high speed and having a simple structure, includes a bipolar differential amplifier and a level conversion.multidot.logic circuit. The bipolar differential amplifier inputting two voltages from two input terminal and a reference voltage from a reference voltage terminal includes at least two differential transistor parts each being composed of two bipolar transistors. The level conversion.multidot.logic circuit includes a MOS OR gate inputting one of differential output voltages output from each differential transistor part via two nodal points, a MOS AND gate inputting another of the differential output voltages output from differential transistor part via two nodal point, and a bipolar output transistor part inputting an OR output voltage and an AND output voltage from bases of high and low voltage side bipolar transistors, respectively, to output an output voltage from a connection point thereof.

Claims5

Dependent claims

An ECL-CMOS level converter circuit comprising:

a bipolar differential amplifier including a plurality of differential circuits, each differential circuit including first and second emitter coupled bipolar transistors, the first emitter coupled bipolar transistor having a base receiving an input voltage having an ECL level from an input terminal and the second emitter coupled bipolar transistor having a base receiving a reference voltage from a reference voltage terminal, each of the emitter coupled bipolar transistors having a collector coupled to a high voltage power source via a load resistor and an emitter coupled to a low voltage power source via a low current power source, the first and second emitter coupled bipolar transistors respectively outputting differential output nodal point voltages having mutually opposite phases from the respective collectors;
and
a level conversion logic circuit including:
first MOS logic gate means having a plurality of P-type channel MOSFETs coupled between the high voltage power source and an output terminal, each of the plurality of P-type channel MOSFETs of the first MOS logic gate means having a gate receiving one of the differential output nodal point voltages output from the bipolar transistors of each differential circuit,
second MOS logic gate means having a plurality of P-type channel MOSFETs coupled between the high voltage power source and the voltage power source, each of the plurality of P-type channel MOSFETs of the second MOS logic gate means having a gate receiving another of the differential output nodal point voltages output from the bipolar transistor of each differential transistor part, and
bipolar output transistor means having a high voltage side bipolar transistor and a low voltage side bipolar transistor, the high voltage side bipolar transistor having a base receiving a logical output voltage of the first MOS logic gate means, a collector connected to the high voltage power source, and an emitter connected to the output terminal, the low voltage side bipolar transistor having a base receiving a logical output voltage of the second MOS logic gate means, a collector to the output terminal, and an emitter connected to the low voltage power source.

3 more elements

An ECL-CMOS level converter circuit comprising:

a first differential amplifier circuit which receives a first input signal having ECL voltage levels and a first reference voltage, the first differential amplifier circuit amplifying the first input signal and outputting first and second differential output nodal point signals responsive to the first input signal, the first and second differential output nodal point signals having mutually opposite phases and varying between first voltage levels;
a second differential amplifier circuit which receives a second input signal having ECL voltage levels and a second reference voltage, the second differential amplifier circuit amplifying the second input signal and outputting third and fourth differential output nodal point signals responsive to the second input signal, the third and fourth differential output nodal point signals having mutually opposite phases and varying between the first voltage levels;
and
a level conversion logic circuit for converting the differential output nodal point signals to an output signal varying between voltage levels differing from the first voltage levels of the differential output nodal point signals, the level conversion logic circuit including:
first MOS logic gate means having first and second MOSFETs coupled between a high voltage power source and an output terminal, the first MOSFET having a gate receiving the second differential output nodal point signal and the second MOSFET having a gate receiving the fourth differential output nodal point signal,
second MOS logic gate means having third and fourth channel MOSFETs coupled between the high voltage power source and a low voltage power source, the third MOSFET having a gate receiving the third differential output nodal point signal, and the fourth MOSFET having a gate receiving the third differential output nodal point signal, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth MOSFETs have a channel type that is the same,
a high voltage side bipolar transistor having a base receiving a logical output voltage of the first MOS logic gate means, a collector connected to the high voltage power source, and an emitter connected to the output terminal, and
a low voltage side bipolar transistor having a base receiving a logical output voltage of the second MOS logic gate means, a collector connected to the output terminal, and an emitter connected to the low voltage power source.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.