Protection circuit for extending headroom with off-chip inductors
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorsLawrence M. Burns, Leonard Dauphinee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A protection circuit for extending the dynamic range of an amplifier circuit is described. Off-chip impedances, such as inductors, cause the output of the circuit to swing above and below the bias voltage. A protection circuit is included, either on-chip or off-chip, to protect the integrated circuit components if there is a fault condition in either of the off-chip impedances.
Claims19
An electronic circuit assembly, comprising;
- an electronic circuit;
- a first impedance;
- a second impedance;
- wherein said electronic circuit has a positive output connected to a bias voltage through said first impedance, and a negative output connected to said bias voltage through said second impedance:
- and
- means for raising a DC voltage at said positive output and said negative output without substantially effecting AC performance of said electronic circuit;
- wherein said electronic circuit is disposed on a common substrate, and said means for raising said DC voltage is disposed external to said common substrate.
A method of extending dynamic range of an output of an electronic circuit having a positive output and a negative output, wherein a first on-chip impedance is connected between said positive output and a bias voltage of said electronic circuit and a second on-chip impedance is connected between said negative output and said bias voltage, comprising the steps of:
- (1) connecting a first off-chip impedance between said positive output and the bias voltage;
- and
- (2) connecting a second off-chip impedance between said negative output and said bias voltage, said bias voltage raising a DC voltage level at said positive and negative outputs through said corresponding first and second off-chip impedances.
An electronic circuit assembly, comprising:
- a substrate;
- an electronic circuit disposed on said substrate, and
- an on-chip impedance disposed on said substrate, wherein
- said electronic circuit has an output connected to a bias voltage through said on-chip impedance, and
- said output further being connected to said bias voltage through an off-chip impedance that is disposed external to said substrate, wherein said off-chip impedance raises a DC voltage of said output.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.