Integrated circuit with closely coupled high voltage output and offline transistor pair
Granted: May 11, 2004
Patent Number:
6734714
An integrated circuit fabricated in a single silicon substrate includes a high-voltage output transistor having source and drain regions separated by a channel region, and a gate disposed over the channel region. Also included is an offline transistor having source and drain regions separated by a channel region and a gate disposed over the channel region of the offline transistor. A drain electrode is commonly coupled to the drain region of the high-voltage output transistor and to the…
Method of fabricating high-voltage transistor with buried conduction layer
Granted: May 4, 2004
Patent Number:
6730585
Method of fabricating a lateral, high-voltage, FET having a low on-resistance and a buried conduction layer comprises a P-type buried layer region within an N-well formed in a P-type substrate. The P-type buried layer region is connected to a drain electrode by a first P-type drain diffusion region that is disposed in the N-well region. The P-type buried layer region is also connected to a second P-type drain diffusion region that extends down from the surface at one end of the PMOS gate…
Method of making a high-voltage transistor with buried conduction regions
Granted: April 20, 2004
Patent Number:
6724041
A high voltage insulated gate field-effect transistor includes an insulated gate field-effect device structure having a source and a drain, the drain being formed with an extended well region having one or more buried layers of opposite conduction type sandwiched therein. The one or more buried layers create an associated plurality of parallel JFET conduction channels in the extended portion of the well region. The parallel JFET conduction channels provide the HVFET with a low on-state…
Fault condition protection
Granted: February 3, 2004
Patent Number:
6687101
A circuit protects a power conversion system with a feedback control loop from a fault condition. The circuit has an oscillator having an input for generating a signal with a frequency and a timer connected to the oscillator input and to the feedback control loop. The timer disables the oscillator after a period following the opening of the feedback control loop to protect the power conversion system.
Dissipative clamping of an electrical circuit with a clamp voltage varied in response to an input voltage
Granted: February 3, 2004
Patent Number:
6687141
Dissipative clamping apparatuses and methods for electrical circuits. In one aspect of the invention, In one aspect of the invention, a method includes switching a power supply input on an energy transfer element, regulating a power supply output by switching the power supply input on the energy transfer element, clamping a voltage on the energy transfer element to a clamp voltage and varying the clamp voltage in response to the power supply input. In another aspect, an electrical…
Power integrated circuit with distributed gate driver
Granted: January 20, 2004
Patent Number:
6680646
A power integrated circuit includes a gate driver coupled to an output transistor having a plurality of segments. The gate driver also has a plurality of segments, each of the segments of the driver circuit being located adjacent a corresponding one of the segments of the output transistor. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical…
Methods for trimming electrical parameters in an electrical circuit
Granted: December 30, 2003
Patent Number:
6668451
Electrical circuit trimming methods. In one aspect of the invention, a trimming method includes assembling one or more components of an electrical circuit onto a printed circuit board having one or more electrical connections coupled to the said one or more components. An electrical parameter of the electrical circuit is then trimmed. The trimming of the electrical parameter of the electrical circuit includes removing a portion of the printed circuit board to break the electrical…
Method of fabricating a high-voltage transistor with a multi-layered extended drain structure
Granted: December 23, 2003
Patent Number:
6667213
A method for fabricating a high-voltage transistor with an extended drain region includes forming parallel arranged drift regions, each of which is interleaved with an insulating layer and a conducting layer that functions as a field plate. Source and body regions of opposite conductivity types are formed, with the body regions separating the source regions from the drift regions. An insulated gate is formed adjacent the body region. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to…
Method and apparatus for reducing audio noise in a switching regulator
Granted: December 23, 2003
Patent Number:
6667605
A switching regulator utilizing on/off control that reduces audio noise at light loads by adjusting the current limit of the switching regulator. In one embodiment, a switching regulator includes a state machine that adjusts the current limit of the switching regulator based on a pattern of feedback signal values from the output of the power supply for a preceding N cycles of the drive signal. The state machine adjusts the current limit lower at light loads such that cycles are not…
Method and apparatus providing a multi-function terminal for a power supply controller
Granted: November 4, 2003
Patent Number:
6643153
A power supply controller having a multi-function terminal. In one embodiment, a power supply controller for switched mode power supply includes a drain terminal, a source terminal, a control terminal and a multi-function terminal. The multi-function terminal may be configured in a plurality of ways providing any one or some of a plurality of functions including on/off control, external current limit adjustments, under-voltage detection, over-voltage detection and maximum duty cycle…
Methods for trimming electrical parameters in an electrical circuit
Granted: November 4, 2003
Patent Number:
6640435
Electrical circuit trimming methods. In one aspect of the invention, a trimming method includes assembling one or more components of an electrical circuit onto a printed circuit board having one or more electrical connections coupled to the said one or more components. An electrical parameter of the electrical circuit is then trimmed. The trimming of the electrical parameter of the electrical circuit includes removing a portion of the printed circuit board to break the electrical…
High-voltage transistor with multi-layer conduction region
Granted: October 28, 2003
Patent Number:
6639277
A high voltage insulated gate field-effect transistor includes an insulated gate field-effect device structure having a source and a drain, the drain being formed with an extended well region having one or more buried layers of opposite conduction type sandwiched therein. The one or more buried layers create an associated plurality of parallel JFET conduction channels in the extended portion of the well region. The parallel JFET conduction channels provide the HVFET with a low on-state…
High-voltage transistor with multi-layer conduction region
Granted: October 14, 2003
Patent Number:
6633065
A high voltage insulated gate field-effect transistor includes an insulated gate field-effect device structure having a source and a drain, the drain being formed with an extended well region having one or more buried layers of opposite conduction type sandwiched therein. The one or more buried layers create an associated plurality of parallel JFET conduction channels in the extended portion of the well region. The parallel JFET conduction channels provide the HVFET with a low on-state…
Off-line converter with digital control
Granted: August 19, 2003
Patent Number:
6608471
A DC to DC converter comprising an energy storage element comprising an energy storage element input and an energy storage element output, the energy storage element input coupled to receive a first power level and the energy storage element output providing a second power level. The converter also comprises a feedback circuit comprising a feedback input and a feedback output, the feedback input coupled to the energy storage element output. The converter further comprises a regulator…
Switched mode power supply responsive to current derived from voltage across energy transfer element input
Granted: July 22, 2003
Patent Number:
6597586
A switched mode power supply having a regulated reflected voltage. In one embodiment, a switched mode power supply includes a power supply regulator coupled between a positive input supply rail of the power supply and a primary winding of an energy transfer element. The reflected voltage across the primary winding of the transfer element is related to the output voltage across a secondary winding of the energy transfer element according to the turns ratio of the energy transfer element.…
Power integrated circuit with distributed gate driver
Granted: June 24, 2003
Patent Number:
6583663
A power integrated circuit includes a gate driver coupled to an output transistor having a plurality of segments. The gate driver also has a plurality of segments, each of the segments of the driver circuit being located adjacent a corresponding one of the segments of the output transistor. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical…
Method and apparatus for fault condition protection of a switched mode power supply
Granted: June 17, 2003
Patent Number:
6580593
Methods and apparatuses for fault condition protection of a switched mode power supply. In one aspect of the invention, a power supply circuit having an auto-restart function to turn the power supply on and off repeatedly under fault conditions is included. In one embodiment, one or more off-times following detection of a fault condition is smaller than subsequent off-times.
Output feedback and under-voltage detection system
Granted: June 17, 2003
Patent Number:
6580622
A switched mode controller for properly handling an under-voltage condition in a power line which includes a current mirror for receiving current from the power line; a reference current source coupled to the current mirror for supplying a reference current; and a power transistor coupled to the reference current source, the power transistor generating a pulse width modulated signal when current from the power line exceeds the reference current, the power transistor being disabled when…
High-voltage vertical transistor with a multi-layered extended drain structure
Granted: June 3, 2003
Patent Number:
6573558
A high-voltage transistor with a low specific on-state resistance and that supports high voltage in the off-state includes one or more source regions disposed adjacent to a multi-layered extended drain structure which comprises extended drift regions separated from field plate members by one or more dielectric layers. With the field plate members at the lowest circuit potential, the transistor supports high voltages applied to the drain in the off-state. The layered structure may be…
High-voltage transistor with multi-layer conduction region
Granted: May 27, 2003
Patent Number:
6570219
A high voltage insulated gate field-effect transistor includes an insulated gate field-effect device structure having a source and a drain, the drain being formed with an extended well region having one or more buried layers of opposite conduction type sandwiched therein. The one or more buried layers create an associated plurality of parallel JFET conduction channels in the extended portion of the well region. The parallel JFET conduction channels provide the HVFET with a low on-state…
