System and method for current measurement in the presence of high common mode voltages
Granted: March 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8988063
A system and method for making accurate current measurements by determining the differential voltage drop across a resistor in series with the load in the presence of large common mode voltages. A compensating voltage equal in magnitude but 180 degrees out of phase with a common mode voltage is generated and applied to a network of resistors connected to a measurement amplifier, thereby significantly reducing the magnitude of the common mode voltage at the measurement amplifier's inputs.…
Integrated MOS power transistor with thin gate oxide and low gate charge
Granted: March 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8987818
A split gate power transistor includes a laterally configured power MOSFET including a doped silicon substrate, a gate oxide layer formed on a surface of the substrate, and a split polysilicon layer formed over the gate oxide layer. The polysilicon layer is cut into two electrically isolated portions, a first portion forming a polysilicon gate positioned over a channel region of the substrate, and a second portion forming a polysilicon field plate formed over a portion of a transition…
On-chip electrostatic discharge protection for a semiconductor device
Granted: March 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8987778
Embodiments of the invention provide increased ESD protection suitable for high-voltage devices. In one embodiment, an internal DMOS circuit is placed in parallel with a lateral NPN ESD clamp. The clamp has both a high holding voltage, above the operating voltage of the DMOS circuit, and a high maximum current before breakdown. The discharge path of the clamp includes a high-voltage lightly doped well containing a low-voltage higher doped well. The dopant of both wells is the same type,…
Safety device and method for using a safety device
Granted: March 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8985452
The invention relates to a security device with sensors for checking whether the security device (1) is in an undamaged state and checking for the presence of a specified support (9) of the security device (1), said support (9) being an object, in particular a mechanical or electronic component, characterized in that the sensors detect movements and/or accelerations of the security device (1) relative to the support (9) and/or material properties of the support (9) and/or of the security…
Magnetic stripe reader
Granted: March 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8985449
The invention relates to a magnetic stripe reader, and more particularly, to systems, devices and methods of directly extracting binary information embedded in a magnetic stripe using simple analog and digital signal processing techniques. Once information stored in the magnetic stripe is extracted as a F-2F waveform by the magnetic stripe reader, peaks, valleys and mid-level transition points between every consecutive peak and valley are detected. A peak-to-peak period and an average…
Secure payment card interface
Granted: March 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8985447
The invention relates to a smartcard reader, and more particularly, to systems, devices and methods of creating a card input/output interface that allows the smartcard reader to couple to a smartcard within a secure cavity. The secure cavity is mounted on an internal side of a system housing, i.e., a smartcard socket, included in the smartcard reader. An interface chip is further attached inside the secure cavity. When the smartcard is inserted to a designated position or depth inside…
Hadamard matrix based projected mutual capacitance touch panel decoding
Granted: March 17, 2015
Patent Number:
8982091
Systems for and methods of decoding the coordinates a touch upon a touch panel. The touch panel comprises drive channels and sense channels. A Hadamard excitation matrix and a cover code are used to generate drive signals to the drive channels of the touch panel. Sense channels of the touch panel are demodulated and decoded using an inverse excitation matrix. The inverse of an Hadamard excitation matrix is the same as the Hadamard excitation matrix. A Hadamard excitation matrix is…
N-channel multi-time programmable memory devices
Granted: March 10, 2015
Patent Number:
8975685
N-channel multi-time programmable memory devices having an N-conductivity type substrate, first and second P-conductivity type wells in the N-conductivity type substrate, N-conductivity type source and drain regions formed in the first P-conductivity type well, the source and drain regions being separated by a channel region, an oxide layer over the N-conductivity type substrate; and a floating gate extending over the channel region and over the second P-conductivity type well in the…
Digital filtering and spread spectrum based interference mitigation for mutual and self capacitance panel
Granted: March 3, 2015
Patent Number:
8970544
A touch screen controller for a capacitive touch screen panel having row conductors intersecting column conductors to form pixels, the touch screen controller comprising: a transmitting unit configured to drive the row conductors with signals formed from an excitation matrix, and a receiving unit configured to sense signals from the column conductors and to determine the capacitance of the pixels using the sensed signals. In some embodiments, the receiving unit is configured to apply…
Symmetrical, direct coupled laser drivers
Granted: March 3, 2015
Patent Number:
8971365
Symmetrical, direct coupled laser drivers for high frequency applications. The laser drivers are in integrated circuit form and use a minimum of relatively small (low valued) external components for driving a laser diode coupled to the laser driver through transmission lines. An optional amplifier may be used to fix the voltage at an internal node at data frequency spectrum to improve circuit performance. Feedback to a bias input may also be used to fix the voltage at the internal node.…
Bonded stacked wafers and methods of electroplating bonded stacked wafers
Granted: March 3, 2015
Patent Number:
8970043
A wafer structure includes a first wafer stack and a first bonding layer disposed on the first wafer stack. The wafer structure further includes a second wafer stack that includes a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface. A second bonding layer is disposed on the second surface and is in contact with the first bonding layer. The second wafer stack comprises through-silicon-vias (TSVs) that extend from the first surface to the second bonding layer. A seed layer is…
Integrated MOS power transistor with body extension region for poly field plate depletion assist
Granted: March 3, 2015
Patent Number:
8969958
A split gate power transistor includes a doped substrate, a gate oxide layer on the substrate, and a split polysilicon layer over the gate oxide layer, which forms a polysilicon gate positioned over a channel region and a first portion of a transition region and a polysilicon field plate positioned over a second portion of the transition region and a shallow trench isolation region. The two polysilicon portions are separated by a gap. The field plate is electrically coupled to a source…
Dual-gate VDMOS device
Granted: February 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8963218
Semiconductor devices are described that include a dual-gate configuration. In one or more implementations, the semiconductor devices include a substrate having a first surface and a second surface. The substrate includes a first and a second body region formed proximal to the first surface. Moreover, each body region includes a source region formed therein. The substrate further includes a drain region formed proximal to the second surface and an epitaxial region that is configured to…
Adaptive frequency synthesis for a serial data interface
Granted: February 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8964922
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, devices and methods of oversampling electronic components where high frequency oversampling clock signals are generated internally. The generated oversampling clock is automatically synchronous with the input clock and the input serial data in a serial data link, and is adaptive to predetermined parameters, such as bit depth and oversampling rate.
Source-series terminated differential line driver circuit
Granted: February 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8963641
A differential amplifier circuit that includes a negative resistor in parallel to synthesize a larger source resistance is disclosed. In one or more implementations, a differential amplifier circuit includes a first transistor and a second transistor. The first transistor is configured to receive a first differential input and the second transistor is configured to receive a second differential input. The differential amplifier circuit also includes a third transistor and a fourth…
System and method to soft-start synchronous buck converters
Granted: February 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8963520
A system includes a feedback module that communicates with a capacitor connected across an output of a power converter and that generates a feedback voltage indicating a pre-bias voltage across the capacitor before power is supplied to the power converter. A comparator compares the feedback voltage to a reference voltage and determines whether the pre-bias voltage across the capacitor is greater or less than a desired output voltage of the power converter when power is supplied to the…
Piezo driver having recharging capability
Granted: February 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8963400
A piezo driver is described that is configured to furnish electric charge to a piezo component and configured to transfer electric charge from the piezo component to a passive energy storage component during various operational states of the piezo driver. In one or more implementations, the piezo driver includes a first passive energy storage component and a second passive energy storage component configured to store electric charge. The piezo driver also includes a voltage converter…
Deep trench capacitor with conformally-deposited conductive layers having compressive stress
Granted: February 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8963287
A high density deep trench MIM capacitor structure is provided wherein conductive-compressive-conformally applied layers of a semiconductor material, such as a Poly-SixGe1-x, are interleaved within MIM capacitor layers to counterbalance the tensile stresses created by such MIM capacitor layers. The interleaving of conductive-compressive-conformally applied material layers are adapted to counterbalance convex (upward) bowing of silicon wafers during the manufacturing process of high…
Simultaneous isolation trench and handle wafer contact formation
Granted: February 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8963281
Techniques are described to simultaneously form an isolation trench and a handle wafer contact without additional mask steps. In one or more implementations, an isolation trench and a handle wafer contact trench are simultaneously formed in a substrate. The substrate includes an insulating layer that defines a trench bottom of the handle wafer contact trench. A handle wafer is bonded to a bottom surface of the substrate. An oxide insulating layer is deposited in the isolation trench and…
Integrated MOS power transistor with poly field plate extension for depletion assist
Granted: February 24, 2015
Patent Number:
8963241
A split gate power transistor includes a doped substrate, a gate oxide layer on the substrate, and a split polysilicon layer over the gate oxide layer, which forms a polysilicon gate and a polysilicon field plate. The two polysilicon portions are separated by a gap. The field plate is electrically coupled to a source of the split gate power transistor. One or more polysilicon extension tabs extend from the field plate to at least above the edge of the first doped region. The polysilicon…
