Logic circuitry powered by partially rectified ac waveform
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorsPaul F. Baude, Michael A. Haase, Steven D. Theiss
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Logic circuitry is powered by a partially rectified alternating current (ac) waveform. The waveform is partially rectified in the sense that it does not provide a clean, primarily dc power signal. Instead, it is possible to power logic circuitry with a waveform that includes a substantial ac component. The partially rectified ac waveform may be applied to logic circuitry incorporating thin film transistors based on amorphous or polycrystalline organic semiconductors, inorganic semiconductors or combinations of both.
Claims26
An electronic circuit comprising:
- a first transistor and a second transistor arranged to form a logic gate;
- an alternating current (ac) source to generate an ac power waveform;
- and
- a partial rectification stage to produce a partially rectified ac power waveform from the ac power waveform and directly power the logic gate with the partially rectified ac power waveform, wherein peaks of half-cycles of the partially rectified ac power waveform have sufficient voltages to power the logic gate, the partial rectification stage produces an average direct current (dc) voltage that is insufficient to power the logic gate, and the ac power waveform has a period less than a propagation delay of the logic gate.
A method comprising directly powering a logic gate formed by at least a first transistor and a second transistor with a partially rectified alternating current (ac) power waveform produced from an ac power source, wherein peaks of half-cycles of the partially rectified ac power waveform have sufficient voltages to power the logic gate, an average direct current (dc) voltage of the partially rectified ac power waveform is insufficient to power the logic gate, and the ac power waveform has a period less than a propagation delay of the logic gate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.