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US 6,208,191 B1Granted
Positive and negative voltage clamp for a wireless communication input circuit
AssigneeMicrochip Technology Incorporated
InventorSam E. Alexander
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved voltage clamp for operating with wireless communication input circuits over the RF band. The clamp provides for symmetrical clamping for excessive positive and negative input voltage excursions. The clamp does not exact a current penalty when operating in the non-excessive positive and negative input voltage regimes. The clamp is comprised of an input node, a capacitor, a MOS transistor, a diode and a ground potential node.
Claims24
A positive and negative voltage clamp for an RF input circuit, comprising:
- an input node;
- a MOS transistor coupled to the input node, wherein the MOS transistor has a parasitic capacitance;
- a ground potential node coupled to the MOS transistor;
- a diode coupled to a control electrode of the MOS transistor and further coupled to the ground potential node;
- and
- a capacitor coupled to the input node and further coupled to the control electrode of the MOS transistor, wherein the capacitor has a capacitance that is larger than the parasitic capacitance of the MOS transistor, whereby the input node will be clamped to remain within substantially symmetrical positive and negative voltage values.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.