Level shifting circuit with adaptive feedback
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics International N.V.
InventorsAdeel Ahmad, Chandrajit Debnath
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An amplifier has a first pull-up path coupled between a voltage supply node and an output node, and a pull-down path coupled between the output node and a ground supply node. A second pull-up path is coupled between the voltage supply node and the output node. The second pull-up path is actuated by a feedback signal and biased by a biasing signal. An inverter circuit is operable to invert the signal at the amplifier output node to generate the feedback signal. A biasing circuit is configured to generate the biasing signal. The biasing circuit is configured to control a relative strength of the pull-down path to the second pull-up path, wherein the pull-down path is stronger than the second pull-up path in a manner that is consistently present over all PVT corners.
Claims23
A circuit, comprising:
- a level shifted signal node;
- a pull-up path coupled between the level shifted signal node and a first supply node and actuated in response to a feedback signal, said pull-up path receiving a biasing signal which controls a pull-up strength of the pull-up path;
- a pull-down path coupled between the level shifted signal node and a second supply node;
- and
- a biasing circuit configured to replicate the pull-down path and operable to generate a replica current flowing in the biasing circuit and further configured to generate the biasing signal in response to the replica current so as to configure operation of the pull-up path so that a pull-down strength of the pull-down path exceeds the pull-up strength of the pull-up path.
A circuit, comprising:
- a level shifted signal node;
- a pull-up path coupled between the level shifted signal node and a first supply node and actuated in response to a feedback signal, said pull-up path receiving a biasing signal;
- a pull-down path coupled between the level shifted signal node and a second supply node;
- and
- a biasing circuit including:
- a replica pull-down path which replicates circuitry of the pull-down path and is configured to generate a replica current equaling a pull-down current in the pull-down path, and
- a bias signal generator coupled to receive the replica current from the replica pull-down path and generate said bias signal in response to the replica current to control a pull-up current in the pull-up path to be smaller than the replica current such that a pull-down strength of the pull-down path exceeds a pull-up strength of the pull-up path.
A circuit, comprising:
- a level shifted signal node;
- a pull-up path coupled between the level shifted signal node and a first supply node and actuated in response to a feedback signal, said pull-up path receiving a biasing signal;
- a pull-down path coupled between the level shifted signal node and a second supply node;
- and
- a biasing circuit including:
- a replica pull-up path which replicates circuitry in the pull-up path and is configured to generate a replica current equaling a pull-up current in the pull-up path and smaller than a pull-down current in the pull-down path, and
- a bias signal generator coupled to receive the replica current from the replica pull-down path and generate said bias signal in response to the replica current to control the pull-up path such that a pull-down strength of the pull-down path exceeds a pull-up strength of the pull-up path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.