An interface circuit may convert an input electrical signal at an input node in a first power domain having a first ground or reference voltage into an output electrical signal at an output node in a second power domain having a second ground or reference voltage. Notably, a level-shifting circuit in the interface circuit may selectively electrically couple to the input node and the output node. Then, when there is electrical coupling, the level-shifting circuit may perform level shifting between the first power domain and the second power domain. The level shifting may involve: passing, using a first filter, frequencies in the input electrical signal below a first corner frequency; passing, using a second filter in parallel with the first filter, frequencies in the input electrical signal above a second corner frequency; and combining outputs of the first filter and the second filter as the output electrical signal.

A level shifter includes an input circuit having first and second input terminals configured to receive complementary input signals at a first voltage level and a second voltage level. A cross-latch circuit is coupled to the input circuit, and has first and second output terminals configured to provide complementary output signals at a third voltage level and a fourth voltage level. The input circuit includes first and second control nodes configured to output first and second control signals at the first voltage level and the fourth voltage level based on the input signals. A tracking circuit is coupled to the input circuit and the cross-latch circuit, and is configured to input first and second tracking signals to the cross-latch circuit based on the first and second control signals, wherein the first tracking signal is the greater of the first control signal and the third voltage level, and the second tracking signal is the greater of the second control signal and the third voltage level.

Disclosed herein are related to systems and methods for providing different power supply levels. In one aspect, a first circuit generates a first signal having a first amplitude according to a first supply voltage. A latch may be coupled to a resistor of a plurality of resistors coupled in series. One end of the resistor may be configured to provide to the latch a second supply voltage higher than the first supply voltage according to a third supply voltage higher than the second supply voltage, and another end of the resistor may be configured to receive the third supply voltage. The latch may modify the first signal to provide a second signal, according to the second supply voltage. An amplifier may amplify the second signal to provide a third signal having a second amplitude larger than the first amplitude, according to the third supply voltage.

A semiconductor device being capable of high-speed data transmission and having a reduced circuit area is provided. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip, an external terminal, and a layer including two facing surfaces. The semiconductor chip is provided on one surface side of the layer, and the external terminal is provided on the other surface side of the layer at least in a region not overlapping with the semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip includes a first circuit including a first transistor, and the layer includes a second circuit including a second transistor. The first circuit is electrically connected to the second circuit, and the second circuit is electrically connected to the external terminal. The second transistor includes a metal oxide in a channel formation region. Note that the second circuit may be a CML circuit. In addition, an insulator may be provided above the one surface of the layer and on a side surface of the semiconductor chip.

In one example, a driver circuit includes a differential transistor pair configured to be biased by a current source and including a differential input and a differential output. The driver circuit further includes a resistor pair coupled between a node pair and the differential output, a transistor pair coupled between a voltage supply and the node pair, and a bridge transistor coupled between the node pair. The driver circuit further includes a pair of three-state circuit elements having a respective pair of input ports, a respective pair of control ports, and a respective pair of output ports. The pair of output ports is respectively coupled to the node pair. The pair of control ports is coupled to a common node comprising each gate of the transistor pair and a gate of the bridge transistor.

A packaged integrated circuit device includes a first driver, which has a first pair of differential output terminals and a first common-mode sensing terminal, and a second driver, which has a second pair of differential output terminals and a second common-mode sensing terminal. The second driver can be a smaller scaled replica of the first driver. A comparator and a reference signal generator are provided. The comparator is configured to compare first and second common-mode voltage signals developed at the first and second common-mode sensing terminals, respectively, and the reference signal generator is configured to provide the first and second drivers with a reference voltage having a magnitude that varies in response to changes in a signal generated at an output terminal of the comparator. This variation in the magnitude of the reference voltage supports a built-in adaptive response to changes in source-side termination in HCSL driver/receiver circuits.

According to an aspect, a current mode logic circuit comprise a first trim resistor and a second trim resistor connected to a supply voltage, a first transistor connected to an input voltage, a second transistor connected to an inverted input voltage and a third transistor and a fourth transistor connected to the first transistor and the second transistor, respectively, in a cascode manner in order to control magnitudes of an output voltage and an inverted output voltage of the current mode logic circuit.

In some embodiments, a method may include receiving an input signal at an input stage of a circuit and amplifying the input signal using an amplifier of the circuit to produce a level-shifted output signal. The method may further include selectively controlling switches of an active load coupled to the input stage based on the level-shifted output signal to turn off current flow between transitions in the input signal.

An input receiver for stepping down a high power domain input signal for a high power domain powered by a high power supply voltage into an output signal for a low power domain includes a waveform splitter. The waveform splitter splits the high power domain input signal into a high voltage signal and a low voltage signal. A high voltage input receiver receives the high voltage signal to produce a received high voltage that is level shifted into a first input signal. A low voltage input receiver receives the low voltage signal to produce a second input signal. A logic circuit generates the output signal from the first input signal and the second input signal.

There is provided a differential signal transmission circuit that includes a first output terminal, a second output terminal connected to the first output terminal via a load resistor, a high-side transistor formed of a p-channel MOSFET and connected between an application terminal of a power supply voltage and the first output terminal, a low-side transistor formed of an n-channel MOSFET and connected between an application terminal of a ground potential and the second output terminal, a high-side pre-driver configured to drive the high-side transistor, a low-side pre-driver configured to drive the low-side transistor, a first resistance part connected between an output end of the high-side pre-driver and a gate of the high-side transistor, and a second resistance part connected between an output end of the low-side pre-driver and a gate of the low-side transistor.