Aspects of the disclosure are directed to generating a reference voltage with trim adjustment. Accordingly, a reference voltage with trim adjustment is generating which involves generating a trim current using at least one of a plurality of selectable parallel elements; inputting the trim current to parallel resistor branches to generate a first scaled voltage; and combining a first voltage with the first scaled voltage to generate the reference voltage.

Apparatuses and methods for providing a current independent of temperature are described. An example apparatus includes a current generator that includes two components that are configured to respond equally and opposite to changes in temperature. The responses of the two components may allow a current provided by the current generator to remain independent of temperature. One of the two components in the current generator may mirror a component included in a voltage source that is configured to provide a voltage to the current generator.

Methods of controlling semiconductor device and semiconductor device are provided in which a semiconductor device can define a normally operational ambient temperature at a low level. The Microcontroller includes a logical block, a temperature sensor for measuring junction temperature, a power consumption circuit for consuming predetermined power, and a Controller for controlling the consumption of power by the power consumption circuit such that the temperature measured at the temperature sensor is not less than a predetermined operational lower limit temperature of the logical block 110.

A fault-tolerant multiphase voltage regulator includes a plurality of power stages, each of which is configured to deliver a phase current to a processor, and a controller. The controller is configured to: control the plurality of power stages to regulate an output voltage provided to the processor; detect and disable a faulty power stage; generate a throttling signal to indicate that one or more of the power stages is faulty and disabled; communicate the throttling signal to the processor over a physical line running between the processor and the controller; and place the multiphase voltage regulator in a self-test mode in which the processor is operated at a known computational load and the controller operates each power stage independently to determine if any of the power stages is faulty under the known computational load. A corresponding method of operating a fault-tolerant power distribution system is also described.

A linear solenoid driving device that drives a linear solenoid, the linear solenoid driving device includes a driving circuit that performs switching control over a switching element connected to the linear solenoid based on a driving command; a current detection circuit that has a detection resistor which is connected to the switching element and the linear solenoid, and detects a current, and an operational amplifier which amplifies a voltage across both ends of the detection resistor and outputs the amplified voltage; a reference voltage output circuit that outputs a reference voltage which has a same temperature characteristic as an output voltage of the operational amplifier; and a control unit.

An automatic power supply system is electrically coupled to a component to be tested. The automatic power supply system includes a power array and a controller. The power array includes a plurality of power channels, and provides power supplies through the plurality of power channels. The component to be tested is electrically coupled to a first power channel of the plurality of power channels and receives a power supply through the first power channel. The controller is electrically coupled to the power array, and calculates a power of the power supply received by the component to be tested. The controller adjusts a power specification of the power supply provided through the first power channel according to the power.

A current control system is disclosed. The current control system may include a controller configured to provide a control signal, an A/D converter dedicated to the controller, a driver configured to supply a current based on the control signal and a sensor configured to provide a digital signal representative of the current to the controller. The digital signal may bypass the dedicated A/D converter. A method for controlling current is likewise disclosed. A circuit for controlling current through an inductive load is likewise disclosed.

A current generator circuit and a method to provide a negative higher order temperature coefficient, nHOTC, current is presented. The circuit has a current source to provide a reference current. Furthermore, the circuit has a MOS current mirror to derive a current at an output of the MOS current mirror from the reference current at an input of the MOS current mirror. In addition, the circuit has a bipolar current mirror to derive a current at an output of the bipolar current mirror from the reference current at an input of the bipolar current mirror. The output of the MOS current mirror and the output of the bipolar current mirror are arranged in series, to provide a combined current. The bipolar current mirror exhibits a mirror ratio 1:k, with 0<k<1. Furthermore, the circuit has an output to provide the nHOTC current based on the combined current.

A circuit includes a load circuit and a voltage regulator circuit. The load circuit includes a load voltage input, a first transistor and a second transistor. The first transistor has a first threshold voltage, and the second transistor has a second threshold voltage. The voltage regulator circuit includes a load voltage output and a tracking circuit. The load voltage output is coupled to the load voltage input. The tracking circuit is configured to provide a load voltage at the load voltage output in which the load voltage tracks the first threshold voltage and the second threshold voltage.

There is provided a reference voltage generator for providing an adaptive voltage. The reference voltage generator includes a steady current source and a PMOS transistor and an NMOS transistor cascaded to each other. A reference voltage provided by the reference voltage generator is determined by gate-source voltages of the PMOS transistor and the NMOS transistor. As said gate-source voltages vary with the temperature and manufacturing process, the reference voltage forms a self-adaptive voltage.