A multi-stage transimpedance amplifier (TIA) with an adjustable input linear range is disclosed. The TIA includes a first stage, configured to convert a single-ended current signal from an optical sensor of a receiver signal chain to a single-ended voltage signal, and a second stage, configured to convert the single-ended voltage signal provided by the first stage to a differential signal. In such a TIA, the input linear range may be adjusted using a clamp that is programmable with an output offset current to keep the second stage of the TIA from overloading and to maintain a linear transfer function without compression.

A first embodiment is directed to a circuit including a positive biasing circuit with a drive PMOS for biasing in subthreshold, a negative biasing circuit with a drive NMOS for biasing in subthreshold, and an amplification circuit coupled to the biasing circuits. The amplification circuit includes a first stage with a first boosting stage, a second stage with a second boosting stage, and a resistive element coupled between the first and second stages. A second embodiment is directed to a folded cascode operational amplifier wherein a value of the resistive element is selected to place at least one of a drive MOS in subthreshold. A third embodiment is directed to an integrated circuit with a resistive area neighboring a first boosting area and a second boosting area, the resistive area including a resistive element directly connected to a drive PMOS and a drive NMOS.

Provided is an input voltage endurance protection architecture applied to a high-voltage operational amplifier with high input amplitude and high linearity. The input voltage endurance protection architecture includes three parts: a main operational amplifier, an auxiliary operational amplifier and an input stage voltage endurance protection circuit. The main operational amplifier is a high-voltage general-purpose operational amplifier, the auxiliary operational amplifier is a single-stage differential amplifier, and the single-stage differential operational amplifier is connected to a degeneration resistor Rbias. In addition, the auxiliary operational amplifier has a same connection method as the main operational amplifier at a positive input terminal and a negative input terminal, and both the positive input terminal and the negative input terminal are protected by an input stage voltage endurance protection circuit and receive and process input signals simultaneously.

Methods and devices for clamping an output of an amplifier stage of an amplifier are presented. According to one aspect, a clamp sense circuit senses a voltage at a node of an internal stage of the amplifier. The clamp sense circuit senses a region of operation of the clamp circuit and correspondingly controls a current limiter that is introduced in the amplifier to limit a current through the internal stage of the amplifier. Limiting the current in turn causes limiting a current path from a clamp circuit through the output of the amplifier stage. According to another aspect, the clamp sense circuit is a replica of the amplifier stage of the amplifier, the output of the amplifier stage coupled to the clamp circuit, and an output of the replica decoupled from the clamp circuit.

A data slicer for converting an envelope signal of an amplitude-modulated wave into a binary signal, comprises: an average level generation circuit configured to generate an average level of the envelope signal by averaging the envelope signal per time; a fixed voltage value generation circuit configured to generate a fixed voltage value; a reference level generation circuit configured to generate a reference level in accordance with the fixed voltage value and the average level of the envelope signal; and a comparison circuit configured to compare a signal level of the envelope signal with the reference level to output a result of the comparison as the binary signal.

The application describes a transimpedance amplifier circuit having a first circuit branch extending between first and second supply nodes. An input NMOS transistor is located in the first circuit branch, with its drain terminal coupled to the first supply node via a load resistor, its source terminal coupled to the second supply node and its gate terminal coupled to an input node for receiving an input signal. The circuit includes a PMOS transistor having its source terminal coupled to a third supply node, its drain terminal coupled to the first circuit branch, at a node in a part of the first circuit branch extending from the drain terminal of the input transistor to the load resistor, and its gate terminal coupled to the input node. A drain current of the PMOS transistor contributes a proportion but not all of a drain current for input NMOS transistor.

A wideband power amplifier (PA) linearization technique is proposed. A current interpolation technique is proposed to linearize power amplifiers over a wide bandwidth. The wideband power amplifier linearization technique employs a novel transconductance Gm linearizer using a current interpolation technique that achieves improvement in the third order intermodulation over wide bandwidth for a sub-micron CMOS differential power amplifier. By using a small amount of compensating bias into an opposite phase differential pair, linearization over wide bandwidth is achieved and can be optimized by adjusting the compensating bias.

The present invention provides a dynamic comparator including a dynamic amplifier and a latch circuit. The dynamic amplifier includes a first input pair, a current source and a gain boosting circuit. The first input pair is configured to receive an input signal to generate an amplified signal at an output terminal. The current source is coupled between the first input pair and a first reference voltage. The gain-boosting circuit is coupled between the first input pair and a second reference voltage, and is configured to receive the input signal to selectively inject current to the output terminal or sink current from the output terminal. The latch circuit is coupled to the dynamic amplifier, and is configured to receive the amplified signal to generate an output signal.

A computer processor includes an on-chip network and a plurality of tiles. Each tile includes an input circuit to receive a voltage signal from the network, and a crossbar array, including at least one neuron. The neuron includes first and second bit lines, a programmable resistor connecting the voltage signal to the first bit line, and a comparator to receive inputs from the two bit lines and to output a voltage, when a bypass condition is not active. Each tile includes a programming circuit to set a resistance value of the resistor, a pass-through circuit to provide the voltage signal to an input circuit of a first additional tile, when a pass-through condition is active, a bypass circuit to provide values of the bit lines to a second additional tile, when the bypass condition is active; and at least one output circuit to provide an output signal to the network.

A first embodiment is directed to a circuit including a positive biasing circuit with a drive PMOS for biasing in subthreshold, a negative biasing circuit with a drive NMOS for biasing in subthreshold, and an amplification circuit coupled to the biasing circuits. The amplification circuit includes a first stage with a first boosting stage, a second stage with a second boosting stage, and a resistive element coupled between the first and second stages. A second embodiment is directed to a folded cascode operational amplifier wherein a value of the resistive element is selected to place at least one of a drive MOS in subthreshold. A third embodiment is directed to an integrated circuit with a resistive area neighboring a first boosting area and a second boosting area, the resistive area including a resistive element directly connected to a drive PMOS and a drive NMOS.