Abstract: The invention provides a semiconductor device, a method of manufacture therefore and a method for manufacturing an integrated circuit including the same. The semiconductor device, among other elements, may include a gate structure located over a substrate, the gate structure including a gate dielectric layer and gate electrode layer. The semiconductor device may further include source/drain regions located in/over the substrate and adjacent the gate structure, and a nickel alloy silicide located in the source/drain regions, the nickel alloy silicide having an amount of indium located therein.

Abstract: An oscillator for synchronizing and controlling a multi-phase, interleaved power supply system that has a plurality of power sources. The oscillator includes a first oscillator, having a pulse generator and a timing capacitor, and a second oscillator, having a pulse generator and timing capacitor, that are electrically coupled to one or more first power supplies and one or more second power supplies, respectively. The pulse generator of the first oscillator is electrically coupled to the second timing capacitor and the pulse generator of the second oscillator is electrically coupled to the first timing capacitor. Each of the pulse generators is structured and arranged to provide a synchronizing pulse to the other oscillator's timing capacitor when the voltage on its own timing capacitor is midway between a pre-determined maximum voltage threshold and a pre-determined minimum voltage threshold.

Abstract: Errors in an analog to digital converter that cause generated digital codes to deviate from expected values are corrected. A sample of an analog signal is stored in a storage element. An error signal is then generated, with the error signal representing a deviation of an expected digital code for the strength of a sample of an analog input from a value that would be generated without correction. The error signal is then added to the stored sample. In an embodiment implemented in the context of a SAR ADC, a digital value representing an integral non-linearity error is generated based on a partial digital code (result of a partial conversion of the sample) and an error coefficient. The digital value is converted to analog form by an auxiliary DAC, and added to the stored input sample.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a digital video display. A digital display device receives an analog signal representing an image formed of pixels in video lines and a signal containing a synchronization waveform for the image. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) receives the analog signal and converts it to a sampled digital waveform. A phase-locked loop including a programmable frequency divider controls the sampling time for the ADC. The programmable frequency divider is controlled by a dividing-ratio algorithm that selects a dividing ratio, measures the number of pixels in a video line using the dividing ratio, and recomputes the dividing ratio by multiplying the selected dividing ratio by the expected number of pixels in a video line and dividing by the measured number of pixels. The sampling phase for the ADC is selected by a sampling-phase control algorithm that minimizes a function representative of the flatness of the sampled digital waveform.

Abstract: A digital to analog converter includes a coarse resolution resistor circuit (11) coupled between a first voltage (Vin) and an intermediate voltage (V0) to produce coarse resolution node voltages (V0, . . . V240), and also includes a fine resolution resistor circuit (20) coupled between the intermediate voltage and a second voltage (GND). One of the coarse resolution node voltages is selected in response to a group of MSB bits of a digital input (D0,1 . . . ) to produce a first output voltage (Vout2), and one of the fine resolution node voltages is selected in response to group of LSB bits of the digital input to produce a second output voltage (Vout1), the second output voltage (Vout1) and the first output voltage (Vout2) providing a differential analog output signal (Vout1?Vout2). In one embodiment, the coarse resolution and fine resolution resistor circuits are string resistor circuits, and in another embodiment they are modified R-2R networks.

Abstract: A switch provided between a first terminal and a second terminal with a varying cross terminal voltage. The switch contains two transistors, with the source terminal of the first transistor being coupled to the first terminal and a drain terminal of the second transistor being coupled to the second terminal. The gate terminal of the first transistor is coupled to the first terminal, the gate terminal of the second transistor is coupled to the second terminal, and the drain terminal of the first transistor is coupled to the source terminal of the second transistor. Due to such a topology, the cross-terminal voltage across the first and second terminals can be substantially higher than the voltage of the control signal indicating whether the switch is to be in on or off state.

Abstract: A multiple-channel audio processor (10) and an associated plurality of power stages (22) in an audio system are disclosed. The audio processor (10) includes a plurality of audio amplifier channels (22), each of which includes a pulse-code-modulation (PCM) to pulse-width-modulation (PWM) conversion function (25), which generates PWM signals for application to the plurality of power stages (22). The audio amplifier channels (20) each also include an interchannel delay function (28) for delaying the PWM edges relative to other channels (20), for reducing noise. The audio amplifier channels (20) each also include delay adjust circuitry (32) for gradually increasing and decreasing the interchannel delay of the channel (20) on startup and shutdown. This permits a single control terminal (VALID) at the processor to globally enable and disable all of the power stages (22).

Abstract: An interpolation filter without a FIFO memory is configured as a cascade arrangement of simpler interpolation sub-filters that are operated in reverse order. The interpolation sub-filter that produces the highest sampling frequency is operated first, followed by interpolation sub-filters that operate at successively lower sampling frequencies. Computational independence of the cascaded sub-filters is guaranteed by adding delays to sampled and filtered signals. Delays are implemented by operating each of the cascaded sub-filters using prior filtering results that are computed during a previous sampling interval. A small increment to random-access memory is required for storing the successively delayed signals. The digital signal processor performing the filtering process is stalled for one clock cycle at the time a filtered signal sample is outputted so that the outputted signal sample can be produced without a timing conflict.

Abstract: A comparator presents a linear load to input signals when providing a comparison output of two input signals. The comparator contains a transistor configured in a source/emitter follower configuration, and operates in the saturation region for substantially the entire range of strengths of the input signals. As a result, the comparator presents a substantially constant load to the input signals. When incorporated in circuits such as a pipeline ADC, the comparator may substantially eliminate errors due to non-linear loads.

Abstract: A delay locked loop (DLL) circuit in which situations of lock to multiple periods of a reference signal is determined by a lock detector using dummy delay elements and a duty cycle correction circuit (DCC). The lock detector, the dummy delay elements and the delay control circuit are used in a path parallel to the delay elements which generate the desired delayed signals having different delays in relation to the reference signal. Due to the use of the parallel path, the throughput performance of the DLL circuit is not impeded. In an embodiment, separate charge pumps are used by a phase comparator and the lock detector used in the parallel path.

Abstract: According to an aspect of the present invention, samples of an input signal are provided with reduced distortion, when the input signal is received from a lead terminal offering lead inductance on an input path. Such a feature is achieved by charging a energy storage element to a value proportional to the input signal using a portion of charging energy received through a path having less lead inductance compared to the path connecting the input signal to the energy storage element. Thus, the energy drawn through the lead impedance is reduced, thereby reducing the magnitude of the distortion caused.