Abstract: An on-chip fuse circuit. The circuit includes a fuse capable of being blown during a programming operation, as well as output logic for determining whether the fuse is blown. A protection circuit is provided for protecting the output logic during programming. An evaluation circuit is provided, for evaluating whether the fuse is blown. The evaluation circuit includes a first current source coupled to the fuse, providing a first predetermined current so as to activate the output logic to read out the condition of the fuse during normal operation, as well as a second current source coupled to the fuse, providing a second predetermined current, substantially less than the first predetermined current, so as to activate the output logic to read out the condition of the fuse during an evaluation mode such that a blown condition is indicated by the output logic only if the resistance of the fuse is substantially greater than that required for the output logic to indicate a blown condition during normal operation.

Abstract: A high-frequency integrated continuous-time filter with built-in test mode. The present invention provides the ability to easily track the cutoff frequency of the filter without the additional power and area requirements and noise sources present in prior art master/slave tuning schemes. Furthermore, the filter being tested is the actual filter that is used to process signals, unlike the prior art where a similar but separate filter or oscillator is used to tune the bias values for both circuits. Better tuning accuracy is thus obtained in the present invention. The circuit is designed to oscillate in test mode at the cutoff frequency of the filter. Oscillation is achieved by moving the poles of the filter from the left half-plane either onto the imaginary axis or into the right half-plane.

Abstract: A bipolar differential pair based transconductance element with improved linearity and signal to noise ratio is described. The circuit of the present invention comprises two sets of differential pairs of bipolar transistors in parallel. Each differential pair implements transistor area ratios in the emitter areas. The present invention also comprises diodes that are coupled to the emitters of the transistors of the differential pairs. When the device areas are ratioed properly, the range for the input voltage signal that still allows a linear output current equation increases by a factor of 2 over prior art circuits. The improved linearity, as well as improved signal-to-noise ratio, is achieved by coupling the diodes to the emitters of the transistors and also having the differential pairs in parallel with their transistor areas proportional to each other. An alternative embodiment of the present invention is also described which also uses a level shifting stage.

Abstract: A filter circuit with improved performance characteristics. A biquadratic transconductance-C filter includes a differentiator in the feed forward path of the input signal to compensate for the non-ideal operation of the transconductance elements and to simplify the performance requirements of a variable gain amplifier also in the feed forward path. The variable gain amplifier and feed forward technique are used to create two programmable magnitude, opposite sign zeros on the real axis, whose effect on the incoming data signal results in variable pulse slimming. The addition of a differentiator in the feed forward path eliminates the effect of the output admittance of the transconductance elements on the filter's group delay. The differentiator acts as a first order, high pass filter. The frequency of the differentiator is controlled so that the input signal is attenuated before it is provided to the variable gain amplifier.