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US 7,746,125 B2Granted
High voltage driver circuit with fast slow voltage operation
AssigneeNXP B.V.
InventorsMaurits M. N. Storms, Bobby J. Daniel
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AssigneeNXP B.V.
InventorsMaurits M. N. Storms, Bobby J. Daniel
Estimating the term…
A high voltage driver circuit for devices such as non-volatile memories, in which a low voltage driver is combined in two different ways with a high voltage driver In one, input-independent embodiment, a low voltage driver (Q7, Q8) is connected directly in parallel with a high voltage driver, thereby providing a high voltage signal path for high voltage operations and a low voltage signal path for low voltage operations. In an alternative, partially input-dependent embodiment, a low voltage driver is connected to the output of a high voltage driver (Q9, Q10), which may comprise a partial level shifter (Q1 B Q6). The output of this low voltage driver (Q9, Q10), which forms the output terminal of the entire stage, has a pull up/pull down transistor (Q11), depending on whether the partial level shifter (Q1 B Q6) is a positive or negative level shifting high voltage driver.
A voltage driver circuit for driving a device at a selected one of a plurality of voltages associated with respective device operations including a high voltage operation and a relatively lower voltage operation, the driver circuit comprising an input (IN), a single output (OUT) for connection to said device, and a plurality of voltage drivers between said input and said output including a high voltage breakdown driver and a relatively lower breakdown voltage driver, wherein said high voltage breakdown driver comprises inverters and said relatively lower breakdown voltage driver comprises an inverter, wherein an output of one of the inverters of said high voltage breakdown driver is connected to an input of the inverter of said relatively lower breakdown voltage driver, the circuit being arranged such that, during a high voltage operation, said high voltage breakdown driver is connected to said output and there is a substantially zero voltage drop across said relatively lower breakdown voltage driver, and, during a relatively lower voltage operation, said relatively lower breakdown voltage driver provides the drive voltage for driving said device, the contribution of said high breakdown voltage driver to said drive voltage during said relatively lower voltage operation being substantially negligible.
A voltage driver circuit for driving a device at a selected one of a plurality of voltages associated with respective device operations including a high voltage operation and a relatively lower voltage operation, the driver circuit comprising an input (IN), a single output (OUT) for connection to said device, and a plurality of voltage drivers between said input and said output including a high voltage breakdown driver and a relatively lower breakdown voltage driver, wherein the high breakdown voltage driver comprises a voltage level shifter that is connected at the input of the circuit that is between first and second voltage lines and the relatively lower breakdown voltage driver comprises an inverter, wherein an output of said voltage level shifter is connected to an input of the inverter of the relatively lower breakdown voltage driver and the inverter of the relatively lower breakdown voltage driver is connected to the single output, the voltage driver circuit being arranged such that, during a high voltage operation, there is a substantially zero voltage drop across said relatively lower breakdown voltage driver.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.