An operational amplifier includes an output transistor having a gate coupled to an output node, at least one intermediate transistor each having a common gate node, an input transistor having a gate coupled to an input node, and a load device coupled to sources of the output transistor, the at least one intermediate transistor, and the input transistor. The operational amplifier further includes an output stage coupled to the output node, configured to drive the voltage on the output node based on currents through the output transistor, the at least one intermediate transistors, and the input transistor. The operational amplifier further includes a first switch coupled between the common gate node of the at least one intermediate transistor and the gate of the input transistor, and a second switch coupled between the output node and the common gate node of the at least one intermediate transistors.

A headphone driver is used to drive a headphone apparatus, which includes a first differential driver, a first positive output terminal, a first negative output terminal, and a second negative output terminal. The first positive output terminal is connected to the first terminal. A switch unit is disposed on a feedback path at the first negative output terminal and the second negative output terminal, to enable the first/second negative output terminal in feedback as a close loop to output to the third/fourth terminal and disable the second/first negative output terminal at a first/second operation state. The first differential driver includes a first positive voltage driving circuit, a first negative voltage driving circuit, and a second negative voltage driving circuit, respectively providing the first positive output terminal, the first negative output terminal, and the second negative output terminal.

An apparatus and method for using the known phenomena of quantum gate tunneling in semiconductor transistors to define the DC state of a charge-coupled amplifier is described. A first stage in which the tunneling current is bipolar (by pairing PMOS and NMOS transistors) in combination with a second stage with a controlled common mode voltage that can be used to control the first stage tunneling current, and thus the common mode voltage at the input. This can be done without the use of additional elements that may degrade performance or power consumption, since the input devices both process the input signal and maintain the DC operating point of the circuit. The approach may be advantageously used not only in charge-coupled amplifiers as described herein, but also in other capacitively coupled circuits such as charge balancing analog to digital converters (ADCs) and digital to analog converters (DACs).

An amplifier circuit includes a circuit path of serially connected complementary type transistors. First and second feedback loops include a loop amplifier, the transistors of the circuit path and a corresponding resistor.

A multi-stage amplifier circuit includes a pre-stage amplifier circuit and a floating control circuit. The pre-stage amplifier circuit amplifies a voltage difference between its input terminals, to generate plural pre-stage transconductance currents flowing through corresponding plural pre-stage transconductance nodes. The floating control circuit includes: a floating reference transistor configured as a source follower and a floating amplifier. The floating amplifier and the floating reference transistor are coupled to form feedback control and to generate an upper driving signal and a lower driving signal according to a floating reference level in the floating control circuit. The upper driving signal is higher than the lower driving signal with a predetermined voltage difference. The floating control circuit is electrically connected to the plural pre-stage transconductance nodes and is floating in common mode relative to the pre-stage transconductance nodes.

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.

The present invention provides a circuit including a reference voltage generator and a plurality of receivers, wherein the reference voltage generator is configured to generate a reference voltage, and each of the receivers is configured to receive the reference voltage and a corresponding input signal to generate a corresponding output signal. In addition, for at least a specific receiver of the plurality of receivers, the specific receiver comprises at least one amplifying stage, the amplifying stage comprises a first input terminal configured to receive the corresponding input signal, a second input terminal configured to receive the reference voltage, a first output terminal configured to generate a first signal, and a second output terminal configured to generate a second signal; and the specific receiver further comprises a first feedback circuit coupled between the first output terminal and the second input terminal.

There is provided a device that includes a MOS transistor and a bias circuit coupled to the MOS transistor. The bias circuit is configured to bias the MOS transistor thereby maintaining the MOS transistor outside of saturation. The MOS transistor is configured to operate as a buffer or an amplifier, while being outside of saturation.

An equalizer having a split folded cascode architecture includes a circuit having a differential pair with a single tail current source and split folded cascode branches. The single tail current source eliminates the input referred offset due to a mismatch in current sources. The folded cascode amplifier acts as the equalizer, which is split into a derivative path and a proportional path. The derivative path boosts the high frequency components of the received signal. The gain of the low frequency components of the received signal is adjusted by the proportional path. The derivative path includes variable capacitors and variable resistors which allow fixing a ‘zero’ frequency and peak gain frequency to a predetermined value, wherein frequencies greater than the ‘zero’ frequency are boosted. The proportional path includes variable resistors, which allow adjusting the low frequency gain without affecting the ‘zero’ frequency and peak gain frequency.

An input receiver includes a first current source circuit, a second current source circuit, a first rail-to-rail amplifier circuit, a first inverter circuit, and a second inverter circuit. The first current source circuit adjusts an operating current flowing through a first node according to a first bias signal. The second current source circuit adjusts a ground current flowing through a second node according to a second bias signal. The first rail-to-rail amplifier circuit and the first inverter circuit are connected in parallel between the first node and the second node. The first rail-to-rail amplifier circuit receives an input signal and compares the input signal with a reference voltage and accordingly outputs an amplified signal. The second inverter circuit is coupled between an operating voltage and a ground voltage. The second inverter circuit generates an output signal according to an inverted signal outputted by the first inverter circuit.