This invention provides compact Power Amplifiers with improved efficiency of the circuitry and improved heat dissipation, together achieved much smaller enclosure size for use in modern installations requiring reduced height such as between the thin flat TV and wall, under the table or on the projector pole or in ceiling box and the like.

In an embodiment, a method for shaping a PWM signal includes: receiving an input PWM signal; generating an output PWM signal based on the input PWM signal by: when the input PWM signal transitions with a first edge of the input PWM signal, transitioning the output PWM signal with a first edge of the output PWM signal; and when the input PWM signal transitions with a second edge before the first edge of the output PWM signal transitions, delaying a second edge of the output PWM signal based on the first edge of the output PWM signal.

An integrated circuit includes a multiplexer circuit configured to provide an output signal on a conductive line, a programmable gain amplifier having a non-inverting input connected to the conductive line to receive the output signal from the multiplexer, a slew rate adjust circuit connected at a first node on the conductive line between the multiplexer circuit and the programmable gain amplifier, a first switch including a first terminal connected to the first node and a second terminal connected to the input of the programmable gain amplifier, and a low pass filter connected between the first and second terminals of the first switch.

A voltage converter comprising: a bootstrap circuit, comprising an output capacitor, an error amplifier, a charging control circuit and a charging circuit. The charging control circuit comprises: a detection circuit, configured to detect an output voltage of the output capacitor to generate a detection signal; and a power limiting circuit, configured to clamp an output voltage of the error amplifier to a specific range based on the detection signal . The charging circuit is configured to generate a charging signal according the output voltage of the error amplifier to the bootstrap circuit, to charge the output capacitor.

An apparatus to prevent supply-to-ground current in a comparator is disclosed. The apparatus includes circuitry to determine if first and second output nodes of the comparator have respectively reached first and second logic levels, and circuitry responsive to a determination that the voltage at the first and second output nodes of the comparator has reached the first and second logic levels, to generate a signal. In addition, the apparatus includes circuitry to supply the signal to a transistor, the signal to turn off the transistor and prevent the flow of supply-to-ground current through the comparator.

A class D amplifier driving circuit is used to generate an output gate driving voltage according to an input voltage that dynamically varies with the amplitude of an audio signal, and the driving voltage is used to drive the high-voltage transistor of the class D amplifier. The class D amplifier driving circuit includes: a reference voltage generation circuit for generating a second reference voltage according to a first reference voltage; a clamping circuit for clamping the input voltage; a low dropout (LDO) linear regulator pre-stage for generating an intermediate voltage according to the second reference voltage; and an LDO linear regulator output stage for generating the driving voltage according to the input voltage and the intermediate voltage.

A cascode amplifier circuit comprising a power amplifier block having a first transistor and a second transistor. The amplifier circuit also comprises: a bias generator block coupled to the first transistor and being configured to provide a reference voltage to the power amplifier block; and a current control block coupled to the second transistor of the power amplifier block, the current control block being configured to adjust a gate bias to the second transistor of the power amplifier block to maintain a constant quiescent current.

Circuits for protecting devices, such as gallium nitride (GaN) devices, and operating methods thereof are described. The circuits monitor a magnitude of the current in a device and reduce the magnitude of the current and/or shut down the device responsive to the magnitude of the current exceeding a threshold. These circuits safeguard devices from damaging operating conditions to prolong the operating life of the protected devices.

A linear amplifier includes a pre-amplifier configured to amplify an input differential signal, a post-amplifier configured to amplify an output signal of the pre-amplifier, an amplitude detector configured to detect an amplitude of an output signal of the post-amplifier, and an output voltage corresponding to the detected amplitude, a comparator configured to control a tail current source of the pre-amplifier such that when the output voltage of the amplitude detector is less than or equal to a reference voltage, a tail current of the pre-amplifier is set to a constant value, and when the output voltage of the amplitude detector is larger than the reference voltage, the tail current is reduced to make the output voltage of the amplitude detector equal to the reference voltage.

Techniques are described for using valley detection for supply voltage modulation in power amplifier circuits. Embodiments operate in context of a power amplifier circuit configured to be driven by a supply voltage generated by a supply modulator and to receive an amplitude-modulated (AM) signal at its input. The output of the power amplifier circuit can be fed to a valley detector that can detect a valley level corresponding to the bottom of the envelope of the AM signal. The detected valley level can be fed back to the supply modulator and compared to a constant reference. In response to the comparison, the supply modulator can vary the supply voltage to the power amplifier circuit in a manner that effectively tracking the envelope of the power amplifier circuit's output signal, thereby effectively seeking a flat valley for the output signal's envelope.