Patent classifications
H03K17/16
Charging device
The disclosure provides a charging device, which includes an input terminal configured to receive an input voltage; an output terminal configured to connect a target load so as to charge the target load; a control terminal, configured to receive a control voltage; a junction field-effect transistor and a control circuit. The junction field-effect transistor includes at least: a drain, electrically connected to the input terminal so as to receive the input voltage; a source, electrically connected to the output terminal so as to output an output voltage and an output current; and a gate, electrically connected to the control terminal. The control circuit is electrically connected to the control terminal, and configured to change the control voltage based on a change in a load voltage so as to change a pinch-off voltage of the JFET by controlling a bias voltage on the gate, thereby controlling the output current.
SWITCHED CAPACITOR CONVERTER
The disclosure relates to a switched capacitor converter with gate driving circuits for limiting currents provided by switching field effect transistors. Embodiments disclosed include a switched capacitor converter (100), SCC, comprising a plurality of gate driver circuits (101a-d, 200, 300) arranged to provide a gate voltage signal to a respective power FET (102a-d) in response to a respective input switching signal (sw1_in, sw2_in, sw3_in, sw4_in, IN), wherein each gate driver circuit (101a-d, 200, 300) comprises a first gate driver module (206) and a second gate driver module (207), the gate driver circuit (101a-d, 200, 300) configured to operate in: a first mode in which the first gate driver module (206) provides the gate voltage signal to a respective power FET (102a-d, 205) in response to an input switching signal (IN) at an input (203) of the first gate driver module (206) causing the gate voltage signal to switch between first and second voltage rails (201, 202) by operation of first and second switches (208, 209) connected between the pair of voltage rails (201, 202); and a second mode in which, in response to enabling of a current limit switching signal (climit_en), the first gate driver module disables switching of one of the first and second switches (208, 209) and the second gate driver module (207) operates to limit a current provided to the respective power FET (102a-d, 205).
Electronic module
An electronic module includes a power supply wiring line disposed on a substrate along a first side and connected to a power supply terminal, a ground wiring line disposed on the substrate along a second side and connected to a ground terminal, and first to third half bridges each having a high-side switch and a low-side switch connected in series between the power supply wiring line and the ground wiring line. Connection points of the high-side switches and the low-side switches are connected to first to third motor terminals and also connected in parallel to one another. The first motor terminal, the second motor terminal, and the third motor terminal are disposed between the power supply terminal and the ground terminal.
Active gate driver optimisation with environmental variables
A method for active gate driving a switching circuit, wherein: a characteristic of a waveform controlled by the switching circuit is represented by a function mapping an input variable to an output metric, and wherein: the input variable comprises: a design variable having a first set of possible values; and an environmental variable having a second set of possible values, wherein the environmental variable is observable but not controllable. The method comprising: performing Bayesian optimisation on the function to generate a model of the function, wherein a next value of the design variable for evaluating the function is selected based on values of an acquisition function associated with a predicted value of the environmental variable; determining a first value of the design variable that optimises the model of the function; and controlling the switching circuit according to the first value of the design variable.
ARTIFICIAL REALITY SYSTEM WITH REDUCED SRAM POWER LEAKAGE
System on a Chip (SoC) integrated circuits are configured to reduce Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) power leakage. For example, SoCs configured to reduce SRAM power leakage may form part of an artificial reality system including at least one head mounted display. Power switching logic on the SoC includes a first power gating transistor that supplies a first, higher voltage to an SRAM array when the SRAM array is in an active state, and a third power gating transistor that isolates a second power gating transistor from the first, higher voltage when the SRAM array is in the active state. The second power gating transistor further supplies a second, lower voltage to the SRAM array when the SRAM array is in a deep retention state, such that SRAM power leakage is reduced in the deep retention state.
Layout construction for addressing electromigration
A CMOS device with a plurality of PMOS transistors each having a PMOS drain and a plurality of NMOS transistors each having an NMOS drain includes a first interconnect and a second interconnect. The first interconnect is on an interconnect level extending in a length direction to connect the PMOS drains together, and the second interconnect is on the interconnect level extending in the length direction to connect the NMOS drains together. A set of interconnects on at least one additional interconnect level physically couple the first interconnect and the second interconnect to an output of the CMOS device. A third interconnect on the interconnect level extends perpendicular to the length direction and offset from the set of interconnects. The third interconnect is capable of flowing current from the PMOS drains or from the NMOS drains to the output of the CMOS device.
SEMICONDUCTOR ELEMENT DRIVE DEVICE AND POWER CONVERSION APPARATUS
A semiconductor element drive device is provided to solve a problem that because a case of a change in the temperature of the semiconductor element or a current flowing through the semiconductor element is not take into consideration, switching loss and noise cannot be reduced sufficiently. In accordance with input sensing information (temperature T, current I), a timing control unit 3 outputs a delay signal Q to control timing of driving a current increasing circuit 5 so that a reduction of switching loss of an IGBT 101 is maximized. When the IGBT 101 is in turn-on mode or turn-off mode, the current increasing circuit 5 outputs a drive signal in response to the delay signal Q delayed by a given time from output of the drive instruction signal P. In this way, the current increasing circuit 5 increases the current that causes the gate capacitor of the IGBT 101 to be charged/discharged in response to the delay signal Q, thereby increasing a switching speed to reduce switching loss.
WIDE VOLTAGE RANGE INPUT AND OUTPUT CIRCUITS
A driver circuit drives an output terminal with an input/output voltage using an NMOS transistor and a PMOS transistor. A pre-driver for the NMOS transistor supplied with a drive voltage and receives a data signal referenced to the drive voltage. A pre-driver for the PMOS transistor has a positive supply input connected to the positive supply rail, a negative supply input receiving a second drive voltage equal to the supply voltage minus the drive voltage. A level shifter circuit, shifts the data signal to be referenced between the supply voltage and the second drive voltage. A charge pump circuit for providing second drive voltage, the charge pump circuit driven with a variable switching frequency proportional to a current of the PMOS transistor.
Low-voltage protection switch unit
A low-voltage protection switch unit, such as a motor protection switch, includes: at least an external conductor line, from an external line supply terminal of the low-voltage protection switch unit to an external line load terminal of the low-voltage protection switch unit; a neutral conductor line, from a neutral conductor terminal of the low-voltage protection switch unit to a neutral conductor load terminal of the low-voltage protection switch unit; a mechanical bypass switch arranged in the external conductor line; a semiconductor circuit arrangement connected in parallel with the mechanical bypass switch; an electronic control unit for actuating the mechanical bypass switch and the semiconductor circuit arrangement in a specifiable manner; and a current measurement arrangement connected to the electronic control unit, the current measurement arrangement being arranged at least in the external conductor line. The electronic control unit switches the semiconductor circuit arrangement on/off in a specifiable clocked manner.
Radio frequency switches with voltage equalization
Embodiments described herein include radio frequency (RF) switches that may provide increased power handling capability. In general, the embodiments described herein can provide this increased power handling by equalizing the voltages across transistors when the RF switch is open. Specifically, the embodiments described herein can be implemented to equalize the source-drain voltages across each field effect transistor (FET) in a FET stack that occurs when the RF switch is open and not conducting current. This equalization can be provided by using one or more compensation circuits to couple one or more gates and transistor bodies in the FET stack in a way that at least partially compensates for the effects of parasitic leakage currents in the FET stack.