A circuit for protecting a power amplifier includes a protection control circuit, an inter-stage adjustment circuit and a multi-stage power amplification circuit. The inter-stage adjustment circuit is connected in series between at least two adjacent power amplification circuits in the multi-stage power amplification circuit. The protection control circuit is configured to: control the inter-stage adjustment circuit to be in a turn-off state when overload protection of any stage power amplification circuit is enabled; and control the inter-stage adjustment circuit to be in a turn-on state, after a preset time elapses from the overload protection of the power amplification circuit being closed. In this way, damage of the power amplifier due to excessive input power may be avoided by the inter-stage adjustment circuit, thereby achieving a function of protecting the power amplifier.

Components of a power amplifier controller may support lower voltages than the power amplifier itself. As a result, a surge protection circuit that prevents a power amplifier from being damaged due to a power surge may not effectively protect the power amplifier controller. Embodiments disclosed herein present an overvoltage protection circuit that prevents a charge-pump from providing a voltage to a power amplifier controller during a detected surge event. By separately detecting and preventing a voltage from being provided to the power amplifier controller during a surge event, the power amplifier controller can be protected regardless of whether the surge event results in a voltage that may damage the power amplifier. Further, embodiments of the overvoltage protection circuit can prevent a surge voltage from being provided to a power amplifier operating in 2G mode.

Various transimpedance amplifier (TIA) arrangements for ultrasonic front-end receivers used in ultrasonic sensing applications are disclosed. An example TIA includes three common-source gain stages in a feedback loop with a common-gate stage. In some aspects, the TIA may include a level shifter configured to maintain the voltage at the gate of a transistor used to implement the first common-source gain stage of the feedback loop shifted by a certain amount with respect to the voltage at an input port to the TIA. In some aspects, at least portions of the TIA may be biased using bias currents that are configured to be process-, supply voltage-, and/or temperature-dependent. Various embodiments of the TIAs disclosed herein may benefit from one or more of the following advantages: reduced noise, reduced input impedance, reduced temperature coefficient of input impedance, and stability for a wide range of sensor frequencies.

Components of a power amplifier controller may support lower voltages than the power amplifier itself. As a result, a surge protection circuit that prevents a power amplifier from being damaged due to a power surge may not effectively protect the power amplifier controller. Embodiments disclosed herein present an overvoltage protection circuit that prevents a charge-pump from providing a voltage to a power amplifier controller during a detected surge event. By separately detecting and preventing a voltage from being provided to the power amplifier controller during a surge event, the power amplifier controller can be protected regardless of whether the surge event results in a voltage that may damage the power amplifier. Further, embodiments of the overvoltage protection circuit can prevent a surge voltage from being provided to a power amplifier operating in 2G mode.

Microwave amplifiers tolerant to electrical overstress are provided. In certain embodiments, a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) includes a signal pad that receives a radio frequency (RF) signal, a ground pad, a balun including a primary section that receives the RF signal and a secondary section that outputs a differential RF signal, an amplifier that amplifies the differential RF signal, and a plurality of decoupling elements, some of them electrically connected between the primary section and the ground pad, others electrically connected in the secondary section to a plurality of the amplifier's nodes, and operable to protect the amplifier from electrical overstress. Such electrical overstress events can include electrostatic discharge (ESD) events, such as field-induced charged-device model (FICDM) events, as well as other types of overstress conditions.

Herein disclosed in some embodiments is a fault detector for power amplifiers of a communication system. The fault detector can detect a portion of the power amplifiers that are in fault condition and can prevent or limit current flow to the power amplifiers in fault condition while allowing the rest of the power amplifiers to operate normally. The fault detector can further indicate which power amplifiers are in fault condition and/or the cause for the power amplifiers to be in fault condition. Based on the indication, a controller can direct communications away from the power amplifiers in fault condition and/or perform operations to correct the fault condition.

Disclosed is a voltage protection circuit for preventing power amplifier burnout in an electronic device. The electronic device includes a power amplifier (PA) configured to amplify a transmission signal, a switch configured to set a path of a signal outputted from the PA, a bias control circuit configured to control the supply of a bias current driving the PA, and a voltage protection circuit configured to provide a main control signal for turning off the PA earlier than turning off the switch based on a battery voltage providing a driving power of the electronic device, and forward the main control signal to the bias control circuit, wherein, in response to receiving the main control signal instructing to turn off the PA from the voltage protection circuit, the bias control unit stops the supply of the bias current driving the PA.

An adaptive feedback method for use in a memory device is provided. The memory device includes a first input-receiver circuit and a plurality of second input-receiver circuits. The method includes the steps of: providing a clock signal and an inverted clock signal to the first input-receiver circuit; generating an enable control signal by the first input-receiver circuit to control a first feedback path in the first input-receiver circuit; in response to the frequency of the clock signal and the inverted clock signal being higher than or equal to a predetermined frequency, activating the first feedback path in the first input-receiver circuit according to the enable control signal; and in response to the frequency of the clock signal and the inverted clock signal being lower than the predetermined frequency, deactivating the first feedback path in the first input-receiver circuit according to the enable control signal.

In a system, apparatus and method for achieving scanning safety for a magnetic resonance conditionally safe implant, an FPO processor converts an RF power signal received from an RF power sensor of an MR scanner into an RF power parameter, and converts a gradient power signal received from an MR gradient power sensor of the MR scanner into a gradient power parameter. Upon detecting that the RF power parameter exceeds an RF power limit value or/and the gradient power parameter exceeds a gradient power limit value, the FPO processor sends a shutdown signal, to shut down an RF power amplifier or/and a gradient power amplifier in the MR scanner. The MR scanner is thereby enabled to realize the FPO mode, without altering MR scanner software, and the workload is small and easy to carry out.

A power amplifier system having a power amplifier with a signal input and a signal output, bias circuitry coupled to the signal input, and a radio frequency (RF) peak detector having an input coupled to the signal output is disclosed. The RF peak detector is configured to generate a peak voltage signal. Temperature-compensated overvoltage protection circuitry coupled between an output of the RF peak detector and a control input of the bias circuitry is configured to respond to the peak voltage signal crossing over a predetermined peak voltage threshold and to provide an overvoltage protection control signal to cause the bias circuitry to adjust biasing for the power amplifier to reduce an overvoltage condition at the RF peak detector input.