Having Specific Active Circuit Element Or Structure (e.g., Complementary Transistors, Etc.) Patents (Class 327/285)
  • Patent number: 10873325
    Abstract: An Inter-IC interface with a glitch filter including at least two cascaded RC filters configured to compensate a signal skew of the data or clock signal received from a data communication or clock signal line, feedback switches configured to pull up or pull down a voltage at an output node of each of the at least two cascaded RC filters, and feedforward transistors configured to condition a respective switches to the feedback switches to accelerate the pull up or the pull down.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Jhankar Malakar, Srikanth Srinivasan, Devraj Matharampallil Rajagopal
  • Patent number: 10682722
    Abstract: A welding system is provided. The welding system includes a low power transceiver configured to be coupled to a weld cable. The low power transceiver includes a low power transmitter, a low power receiver, and a first processor. The low power receiver is configured to transmit one or more unmodulated tones through the weld cable to a welding power supply. The low power receiver is configured to receive the one or more unmodulated tones through the weld cable from the welding power supply. The first processor is configured to determine one or more channel equalization filter coefficients related to the weld cable corresponding to a distortive characteristic of the weld cable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventor: Marc Lee Denis
  • Patent number: 10530422
    Abstract: A method of analyzing a transient response of an electronic circuit includes receiving at a jitter modulator circuit first and second input signals, modulating the second input signal on the first input signal in the jitter modulator circuit and outputting a modulated signal based on the first and second input signals. The jitter modulator circuit includes models of N parallel connected transmission lines and modulating includes providing the first input signal, at each of a series of times t, to the N transmission line models and selecting an output of two of the N transmission line models based on the second input. The modulated signal is formed based on the selected outputs of the two N transmission lines models.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Zhaoqing Chen
  • Patent number: 10505554
    Abstract: A phase-locked loop circuit includes a first time-to-digital converter (TDC) to receive an input reference signal, a digital-controlled oscillator (DCO), and a first divider coupled to an output of the DCO. The first divider divides down a frequency of an output from the DCO. A second divider divides down a frequency of an output form the first divider to provide a second divider output to an input of the first TDC. The first TDC generates an output digital value encoding a time difference between corresponding edges of the input reference signal and the second divider output. A second TDC receives the input reference signal. An averager circuit generates a digital output that is indicative of an average of an output from the second TDC. A subtractor circuit subtracts the digital output from the average and the output digital value from the first TDC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Jayawardan Janardhanan, Christopher Andrew Schell, Henry Yao, Raghu Ganesan
  • Patent number: 10405091
    Abstract: A signal processor delay input device with one or more signal inputs and one or more signal outputs includes a first multi-position switch and a second multi-position switch. A first value representative of an input state of the first multi-position switch corresponds to a first increment of a time delay applied to a signal that is being passed from a first one of the one or more signal inputs to a first one of the one or more signal outputs. A second value representative of an input state of the second multi-position switch corresponds to a second increment of the time delay applied to the signal being passed from the first one of the one or more signal inputs to the first one of the one or more signal outputs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Inventor: Jason Kemmerer
  • Patent number: 10333521
    Abstract: A voltage-controlled oscillator is provided. A semiconductor device includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit has a function of holding a first potential and a function of controlling the level of a third potential supplied to the second circuit according to a second potential based on the first potential. The second circuit has a function of outputting a second signal based on a first signal input to the second circuit. The delay time from input of the first signal to the second circuit to output of the second signal from the second circuit is determined by the third potential.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yuki Okamoto
  • Patent number: 10212065
    Abstract: As one example, a system includes a first timestamp generator to provide a first timestamp in response to at least one input clock signal. The first timestamp may be derived based on a global time base and have a resolution that resides within a first range of values corresponding to a first time range. A second timestamp generator provides a second timestamp in response to the at least one input clock signal. The second timestamp may be derived based on a second time base and have a resolution that resides within a second range of values complementary to the first timestamp and corresponding to a second time range that is greater than the first time range. A combiner combines the first and second timestamps to provide a reference timestamp having a value over an extended range of continuous time values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: GATESAIR, INC.
    Inventors: Junius A. Kim, Keyur R. Parikh
  • Patent number: 8952836
    Abstract: A pipeline analog-to-digital converter is disclosed which includes at least one periodic unit consisting of two adjacent stages that jointly use two capacitor networks of the same structure. Each of the capacitor networks includes two identical capacitors, two switches and four terminals. On/off states of the switches and interconnection configuration of the terminals are controlled by clock signals to switch the periodic unit between four possible connection configurations. During operation of the periodic unit, when the upstream stage is in a sampling phase that involves one of the capacitor networks as well as a reference capacitor, the downstream stage uses the other of the capacitor networks to conduct residue amplification; and on the other hand, when the upstream stage is using one of the capacitor networks for residue amplification, the downstream stage relies also on this capacitor network for sampling, leaving the other of the capacitor networks idle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Shanghai Huahong Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation
    Inventors: Hongwei Zhu, Yuwei Zhao
  • Patent number: 8937500
    Abstract: This document discusses, among other things, a delay circuit, in which a first register is written with a delay reference code, a second register is written with a delay factor, a control unit determines a corresponding delay ratio in a storage unit based on the delay factor in the second register, and sends the determined delay ratio to a first digital timing unit, the first digital timing unit determines a delay reference time based on the delay reference code in the first register, multiplies the delay reference time by the delay ratio to result in a desired delay time, and generates a delay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2015
    Assignee: Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Ming Chuen Alvan Lam, Weiming Sun, Emma Wang, Peng Zhu
  • Patent number: 8928384
    Abstract: A programmable delay generator and a cascaded interpolator are provided. The cascaded interpolator includes a set of interpolator stages, each having two signal inputs and two signal outputs, configured to receive two input signals having two different phases and to generate two output signals that have a phase separation equal to a fraction of a phase separation of the two input signals; and a phase converter connected to a last stage of the plurality of single-bit interpolator stages, configured to convert the two output signals into a single final output signal of a given phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Sergey V. Rylov
  • Publication number: 20140366829
    Abstract: A delay circuit is coupled to an electromagnetic coil and includes a power input end coupled to a first end of the electromagnetic coil, a first switch module coupled to the power input end, a second switch module coupled to a second end of the electromagnetic coil, a first timing module coupled to the power input end and the first switch module, and a second timing module coupled to the power input end and the second switch module. The second switch module turns on when the power input end supplies power. The first timing module is configured to count time when the power input end supplies power and turns on the first switch module after a first predetermined time. The second timing module is configured to count time after the first switch module turns on and turns on the second switch module after a second predetermined time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Publication date: December 18, 2014
    Applicants: UNIVERSAL SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIAL ( SHANGHAI ) CO., LTD., UNIVERSAL GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventor: HSIN-HUNG WU
  • Patent number: 8874401
    Abstract: In a measuring device, the measured data of a data recording component (10) are transmitted to an evaluating component via an output device (12). Parameters of the measuring device are stored in a memory (18). For the purpose of parameterization, parameters from the evaluating component can be stored in the memory (18) over a data cable for transmitting the measured data. To this end, the output device (12) for this data cable (Z) is operated at high impedance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2014
    Assignee: Sick Stegmann GmbH
    Inventors: Josef Siraky, Willibald Stobbe, Ralf Steinmann
  • Publication number: 20140247078
    Abstract: An apparatus for delaying a plurality of chain-based time-to-digital circuits (TDCs). The apparatus includes a plurality of propagation path devices each connected to a respective one of the plurality of TDCs, each propagation path device delays a common start signal by a selectable amount based on a delay selection signal received by the propagation path device, and transmits the delayed start signal to the respective one of the TDCs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2013
    Publication date: September 4, 2014
    Applicants: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation, Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Gregory J. MANN
  • Patent number: 8779820
    Abstract: Described embodiments provide a delay cell for a complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit. The delay cell includes a delay stage to provide an output signal having a programmable delay through the delay cell. The delay cell has a selectable delay value from a plurality of delay values and a selectable output skew value from a plurality of output skew values, where the cell size and terminal layout of the delay cell are relatively uniform for the plurality of delay values and the plurality of output skew values. The delay stage includes M parallel-coupled inverter stages of stacked PMOS transistors and stacked NMOS transistors. The stacked transistors have configurable source-drain connections between a drain and a source of each transistor, wherein the selectable delay value corresponds to a configuration of the configurable source-drain connections to adjust a delay value of each of the M inverter stages and an output skew value of the delay cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Martin J. Gasper, Michael J. McManus
  • Patent number: 8779822
    Abstract: Examples of circuits and methods for compensating for power supply induced signal jitter in path elements sensitive to power supply variation. An example includes a signal path coupling an input to an output, the signal path including a delay element having a first delay and a bias-controlled delay element having a second delay. The first delay of the delay element exhibits a first response to changes in power applied thereto and the second delay of the bias-controlled delay element exhibits a second response to changes in the power applied such that the second response compensates at least in part for the first response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Yantao Ma, Aaron Willey
  • Patent number: 8773187
    Abstract: Examples of analog delay lines and analog delay systems, such as DLLs incorporating analog delay lines are described, as are circuits and methods for adaptive biasing. Embodiments of adaptive biasing are described and may generate a bias signal for an analog delay line during start-up. The bias signal may be based in part on the frequency of operation of the analog delay line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Feng Lin
  • Patent number: 8766694
    Abstract: A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a rupture instructing pulse generation unit configured to generate a rupture instructing pulse signal in response to a fuse rupture command signal and an address; a first anti-fuse rupture unit configured to perform an operation for rupturing a first anti-fuse during an enable period of the rupture instructing pulse signal, and generate rupture information of the first anti-fuse; a pulse shifting unit configured to delay the rupture instructing pulse signal and generate a delayed rupture instructing pulse signal; and a second anti-fuse rupture unit configured to perform an operation for rupturing a second anti-fuse during an enable period of the delayed rupture instructing pulse signal, and generate rupture information of the second anti-fuse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: SK Hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Je Yoon Kim
  • Patent number: 8698537
    Abstract: In at least one aspect, an apparatus includes a plurality of inverter groups and a plurality of bias current sources. The plurality of inverter groups is configured to amplify a signal. Each of the inverter groups has one or more inverters and is in communication with at least one other inverter group of the plurality of inverter groups. Each of the bias current sources is configured to provide a bias current to a different inverter group of the plurality of inverter groups to perform signal amplification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Yonghua Song, Pantas Sutardja
  • Patent number: 8680907
    Abstract: A delay circuit having reduced duty cycle distortion is provided. The delay circuit includes a plurality of delay elements connected together in a series configuration. Each of the delay elements has a prescribed delay associated therewith. The delay circuit further includes a controller connected to respective outputs of the delay elements. The controller is configured such that signal paths between the respective outputs of the delay elements and an output of the controller have delays that are substantially the same relative to one another. Each of the signal paths has a tri-statable switching element associated therewith.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Agere Systems LLC
    Inventors: James D. Chlipala, Scott A. Segan
  • Patent number: 8664995
    Abstract: Described embodiments provide a delay cell for a complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit. The delay cell includes a delay stage to provide an output signal having a programmable delay through the delay cell. The delay cell has a selectable delay value from a plurality of delay values and a selectable output skew value from a plurality of output skew values, where the cell size and terminal layout of the delay cell are relatively uniform for the plurality of delay values and the plurality of output skew values. The delay stage includes M parallel-coupled inverter stages of stacked PMOS transistors and stacked NMOS transistors. The stacked transistors have configurable source-drain connections between a drain and a source of each transistor, wherein the selectable delay value corresponds to a configuration of the configurable source-drain connections to adjust a delay value of each of the M inverter stages and an output skew value of the delay cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Martin J. Gasper, Michael J. McManus
  • Patent number: 8653861
    Abstract: A control voltage generating circuit according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a reference voltage unit that includes a plurality of first transistors of the same conductivity type connected in series between a first power supply and a second power supply, and generates a drain voltage of one of the plurality of first transistor as a reference voltage; and a voltage conversion unit that includes a plurality of second transistors connected in series between the first power supply and the second power supply and having the same conductivity type as that of the reference voltage, supplies the reference voltage to a gate of one of the plurality of second transistors, and outputs a drain voltage of one of the plurality of second transistors as a control voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Renesas Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Koichiro Noguchi, Koichi Nose
  • Patent number: 8604857
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for reducing jitter caused by changes in a power supply for a clock generated by a ring oscillator of inverter devices. An inverter sub-circuit is coupled in parallel with a current-starved inverter sub-circuit to produce an inverter circuit that is insensitive to changes in the power supply voltage. When the ring oscillator is used as the voltage controlled oscillator of a phase locked loop, the delay of the inverters may be controlled by varying a bias current for each inverter in response to changes in the power supply voltage to reduce any jitter in a clock output produced by the changes in the power supply voltage. When the transistor devices are sized appropriately and the bias current is adjusted, the sensitivity of the inverter circuit to changes in the power supply voltage may be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventor: William James Dally
  • Publication number: 20130293275
    Abstract: A tunable delay unit and methods of tuning are provided, comprising a plurality of first delay elements and a plurality of first delay element taps between the first delay elements, wherein the first delay element taps are inputs to a first multiplexer and wherein the output of the first multiplexer is selected from among the inputs according to a first tap select input, further comprising a plurality of second delay elements connected in series to the output of the first multiplexer and a plurality of second delay element taps between the second delay elements, wherein the second delay element taps are inputs to a second multiplexer and wherein the output of the second multiplexer is selected from among the inputs according to a second tap select input, the output of the second multiplexer forming the output of the programmable delay unit. The programmable delay unit provides for highly accurate calibration of timed circuits, in particular delay lines.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2011
    Publication date: November 7, 2013
    Applicant: Novelda AS
    Inventors: Kristian Granhaug, Hakon Andre Hjortland, Olav Evensen Liseth
  • Publication number: 20130257502
    Abstract: The embodiments of the present invention disclose a delay circuit. The delay circuit comprises an inverter, a load capacitor, and a first voltage clamping module, wherein the first voltage clamping module generates a voltage drop configured to prolong the propagation delay time of the delay circuit as the power supply voltage decreases. The power supply dependent delay circuit may have a much larger propagation delay time at low power supply voltage than it at high power supply voltage at the rising-edge or falling-edge of an input signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2012
    Publication date: October 3, 2013
    Applicant: Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Yan Dong, Peng Xu
  • Patent number: 8547131
    Abstract: A system and method for observing threshold voltage variations are provided. A ring oscillator circuit comprises a plurality of inverters arranged in a sequential loop, a plurality of test circuits having devices under test, each coupled between a respective one of the inverters and a power supply. Each test circuit has a bypass field effect transistor (FET) having a first channel coupled between the power supply and a respective one of the inverters responsive to an individual enable signal, and a FET device under test having a second channel arranged in parallel to the first channel. A method is described for determining the threshold voltage of the device under test by disabling, for one of the inverters in the ring oscillator, the first FET device such that the device under test is coupled between the power supply and the respective inverter and affects the operating frequency of the ring oscillator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Chung-Hsing Wang, Chih-Chieh Chen, Yi-Wei Chen
  • Publication number: 20130241457
    Abstract: A delay circuit for a fan includes a signal generation circuit, a first switch, a delay microchip, and a second switch. The signal generation circuit receives a driving signal and generates a control signal according to the driving signal. The first switch is electronically connected to the signal generation circuit to receive the control signal. The second switch is electronically connected between the delay microchip and the fan. When the signal generation circuit is electronically connected to the fan via the first switch, the control signal is transmitted to the fan to activate the fan. When the signal generation circuit is electronically connected to the delay microchip, the delay microchip receives the control signal and outputs a delayed control signal after a predetermined delay time, and the delayed control signal is transmitted to the fan via the second switch to activate the fan.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2012
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Applicants: HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD., HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (SHENZHEN) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (SHENZHEN) CO., LTD, HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
  • Patent number: 8536921
    Abstract: Described embodiments provide a delay cell for a complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit. The delay cell includes a delay stage to provide an output signal having a programmable delay. The delay cell has a selectable delay value from a plurality of delay values and a selectable output skew value from a plurality of output skew values, where the cell size and terminal layout of the delay cell are uniform for the plurality of delay values and the plurality of output skew values. The delay stage includes M parallel-coupled inverter stages of stacked PMOS transistors and stacked NMOS transistors. The stacked transistors have configurable source-drain connections between a drain and a source of each transistor, wherein the selectable delay value corresponds to a configuration of the configurable source-drain connections to adjust a delay value of each of the M inverter stages and an output skew value of the delay cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Martin J. Gasper, Michael J. McManus
  • Patent number: 8461893
    Abstract: Described embodiments provide a delay cell for a complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit. The delay cell includes a delay stage to provide an output signal having a programmable delay through the delay cell. The delay cell has a selectable delay value from a plurality of delay values, where the cell size and terminal layout of the delay cell are relatively uniform for the plurality of delay values. The delay stage includes M parallel-coupled inverter stages. Each parallel-coupled inverter stage includes N pairs of stacked PMOS transistors and stacked NMOS transistors. The N transistor pairs have configurable source-drain node connections between a drain node and a source node of each transistor in the pair, wherein the selectable delay value corresponds to a configuration of the configurable source-drain node connections to adjust a delay value of each of the M inverter stages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Martin J. Gasper, Gerard M. Blair, Bruce E. Zahn
  • Patent number: 8441295
    Abstract: A delay generator comprises: a current source for supplying a current; a first delay portion, connected to the current source, comprising at least a plurality of inverters and a first capacitor having a first capacitance; and a second delay portion, connected to the current source, comprising at least a plurality of inverters and a second capacitor having a second capacitance, wherein the first capacitance is the same as the second capacitance, wherein the first delay portion generates a first delay by discharging of the first capacitor, wherein the second delay portion generates a second delay by charging of the second capacitor, and wherein the total delay generated by the delay generator is obtained by summation of the first delay and the second delay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2013
    Assignee: University of Macau
    Inventors: He-Gong Wei, U-Fat Chio, Sai-Weng Sin, Seng-Pan U, Rui Paulo da Silva Martins
  • Patent number: 8436670
    Abstract: Examples of circuits and methods for compensating for power supply induced signal jitter in path elements sensitive to power supply variation. An example includes a signal path coupling an input to an output, the signal path including a delay element having a first delay and a bias-controlled delay element having a second delay. The first delay of the delay element exhibits a first response to changes in power applied thereto and the second delay of the bias-controlled delay element exhibits a second response to changes in the power applied such that the second response compensates at least in part for the first response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Yantao Ma, Aaron Willey
  • Patent number: 8432210
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling clock skew in an integrated circuit (IC) includes timing circuitry operative to generate a clock signal for distribution in the IC and at least one buffer circuit operative to receive the clock signal, or a signal indicative of the clock signal, and to generate a delayed version of the clock signal as an output thereof. The buffer circuit includes at least first and second inverter stages and a resistive-capacitive (RC) loading structure. An output of the first inverter stage is connected to an input of the second inverter stage via the RC loading structure. The buffer circuit has a delay associated therewith that is selectively varied as a function of one or more adjustable characteristics of the RC loading structure. Clock skew in the IC is controlled as a function of the delay of the buffer circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey S. Brown, Mark Franklin Turner
  • Patent number: 8421515
    Abstract: A clock synchronization system and method avoids output clock jitter at high frequencies and also achieves a smooth phase transition at the boundary of the coarse and fine delays. The system may use a delay line configured to generate two intermediate clocks from the input reference clock and having a fixed phase difference therebetween. A phase mixer receives these two intermediate clocks and generates the final output clock having a phase between the phases of the intermediate clocks. The shifting in the delay line at high clock frequencies does not affect the phase relationship between the intermediate clocks fed into the phase mixer. The output clock from the phase mixer is time synchronized with the input reference clock and does not exhibit any jitter or noise even at high clock frequency inputs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Jongtae Kwak, Kang Yong Kim
  • Patent number: 8384460
    Abstract: An adjustable delay circuit includes first and second transistors each having a control input coupled to an input node of the adjustable delay circuit and an output coupled to an output node of the adjustable delay circuit. The adjustable delay circuit includes a first pass gate coupled between first and second capacitors and the output node of the adjustable delay circuit. The first and the second capacitors are coupled between a node at a high voltage and a node at a low voltage. The first pass gate is operable to be controlled by a first delay control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Altera Corporation
    Inventors: Chiakang Sung, John Henry Bui, Khai Nguyen, Bonnie I. Wang, Xiaobao Wang
  • Patent number: 8362932
    Abstract: Calibration data for calibrating time to digital conversion is obtained by switching a feed circuit of a time to digital converter between a normal operating mode or a calibration mode. A delay circuit with a delay circuit input and a plurality of taps outputs. A sampling register samples data from the data inputs. The feed circuit provides for selection of transitions of the oscillator signal that control timing of a first active transition at the clock circuit after a transition at the delay circuit input. A control circuit switches the feed circuit between normal operating mode and calibration mode, and controls the feed circuit successively to select a plurality of different transitions to control timing of the first active transition in the calibration mode. The control circuit reads out resulting data from the sampling register for each selection and determines calibration data for the oscillator signal from said data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: ST-Ericsson SA
    Inventors: Nenad Pavlovic, Manel Collados Asensio, Xin He, Jan Van Sinderen
  • Publication number: 20130021079
    Abstract: A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a plurality of semiconductor chips stacked in a multi-layer structure; a correction circuit in each semiconductor chip configured to reflect a delay time corresponding to the position of the chip in the stack into an input signal to output to each semiconductor chip; and a plurality of through-chip vias formed vertically through each of the semiconductor chips and configured to transmit the input signal to the semiconductor chip.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2011
    Publication date: January 24, 2013
    Inventor: Chun-Seok JEONG
  • Publication number: 20130015899
    Abstract: Embodiments of delay lines may include a plurality of delay stages coupled to each other in series from a first stage to a last stage. Each delay stage may include an input transistor receiving a signal being delayed by the delay line. The delay line may include a compensating circuit configured to compensate for a change in a transconductance of the input transistor resulting from various factors. One such compensating circuit may be configured to provide a bias signal at an output node having a magnitude that is a function of a transconductance of a transistor in the compensating circuit. The bias signal may be used by each of the delay stages to maintain the gain of the respective delay stage substantially constant, such as a gain of substantially unity, despite changes in a transconductance of the respective input transistor in each of the delay stages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Publication date: January 17, 2013
    Applicant: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Aaron Willey
  • Patent number: 8294503
    Abstract: A driver chain circuit and methods are provided. The driver chain circuit includes a plurality of voltage regulators and an inverter chain. The plurality of voltage regulators are operable to provide a bias to respective groups of one or more inverters within the inverter chain. The inverter chain includes a plurality of groups of one or more inverters. Each group of inverters is configured to receive a bias from a respective one of the plurality of voltage regulators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Yonghua Song, Pantas Sutardja
  • Patent number: 8289062
    Abstract: Examples of analog delay lines and analog delay systems, such as DLLs incorporating analog delay lines are described, as are circuits and methods for adaptive biasing. Embodiments of adaptive biasing are described and may generate a bias signal for an analog delay line during start-up. The bias signal may be based in part on the frequency of operation of the analog delay line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Feng Lin
  • Patent number: 8217821
    Abstract: A reference signal generator circuit for an analog-to-digital converter, the circuit having a signal-generation stage to generate a first reference signal on a first reference terminal, and a filtering circuit arranged between the generator stage and the analog-to-digital converter to determine a filtering of disturbance present on the first reference signal and supply at output on a second reference terminal a second filtered reference signal, the filtering circuit having a switching circuit to connect the first reference terminal to the second reference terminal directly during startup of the reference signal generator circuit and then through the filtering circuit once the startup step is terminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Filippo David, Igino Padovani
  • Patent number: 8149040
    Abstract: A system is provided for generating a plurality of different voltage level clock signals. The system comprises an electrical energy storage pack having a plurality of series coupled electrical energy storage cells that provide a plurality of different output voltage level, a reference oscillator that provides a reference clock signal and a plurality of voltage clamps that receive the plurality of different output voltage levels and output the plurality of different voltage level clock signals at respective output nodes. The plurality of voltage clamps are configured to clamp each of a given output node to a respective high-side voltage level in response to pulling up of the given output node toward a respective high output voltage level and to clamp each of the given output node to a respective low-side voltage level in response to pulling down of the output node toward a low output voltage level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Karthik Kadirel, Umar Jameer Lyles, John H. Carpenter, Jr.
  • Publication number: 20120068754
    Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a circuit, such as an integrated circuit. The circuit includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The second circuit includes a delay circuit configured to cause the second circuit to have substantially matched delay characteristics of the first circuit in response to at least one parameter change of manufacturing, environmental and operational parameters, such as process variation, temperature variation, and supply voltage variation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2011
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Inventors: Jason T. SU, Winston Lee
  • Patent number: 8120409
    Abstract: A programmable delay circuit capable of providing a delay with integer and fractional time resolution is described. In one exemplary design, an apparatus includes first and second delay circuits. The first delay circuit provides a first delay of an integer number of time units. The second delay circuit couples to the first delay circuit and provides a second delay of a fraction of one time unit. The first delay circuit may include multiple unit delay cells coupled in series. Each unit delay cell may provide a delay of one time unit when enabled. The second delay circuit may have first and second paths. The first path may provide a shorter delay when selected, and the second path may provide a longer delay when selected. The second path may be coupled to at least one dummy logic gate that provides extra loading to obtain the longer delay for the second path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignee: QUALCOMM, Incorporated
    Inventors: Mustafa Keskin, Marzio Pedrali-Noy
  • Publication number: 20120038405
    Abstract: Embodiments of delay lines may include a plurality of delay stages coupled to each other in series from a first stage to a last stage. Each delay stage may include an input transistor receiving a signal being delayed by the delay line. The delay line may include a compensating circuit configured to compensate for a change in a transconductance of the input transistor resulting from various factors. One such compensating circuit may be configured to provide a bias signal at an output node having a magnitude that is a function of a transconductance of a transistor in the compensating circuit. The bias signal may be used by each of the delay stages to maintain the gain of the respective delay stage substantially constant, such as a gain of substantially unity, despite changes in a transconductance of the respective input transistor in each of the delay stages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2010
    Publication date: February 16, 2012
    Applicant: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Aaron Willey
  • Publication number: 20110260767
    Abstract: A system and device for reducing instantaneous voltage droop (IVD) during a scan shift operation is disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes a first group of clock gating cells configured to receive an input clock signal and a first group of flip-flops coupled to the first group of clock gating cells. Each clock gating cell of the first group of clock gating cells includes a first delay element to delay the input clock signal by a first duration during a scan shift operation. The system also includes a second group of clock gating cells configured to receive the input clock signal, and a second group of flip-flops coupled to the second group of clock gating cells. Each clock gating cell of the second group of clock gating cells includes a second delay element to delay the input clock signal by a second duration during the scan shift operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2010
    Publication date: October 27, 2011
    Inventors: Narendra Devta-Prasanna, Sandeep Kumar Goel, Arun K. Gunda
  • Publication number: 20110216454
    Abstract: An RC delay circuit for providing electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is described. The circuit employs an NMOS transistor and a PMOS transistor to produce a large effective resistance using a relatively small circuit layout area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2010
    Publication date: September 8, 2011
    Inventors: Shih-Yu Wang, Chia-Ling Lu, Yu-Lien Liu, Yan-Yu Chen, Che-Shih Lin, Tao-Cheng Lu
  • Patent number: 7956663
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a delay circuit for performing one of a charge and a discharge in two stages, and delaying a signal, the delay circuit including an output section configured to output a delayed signal; two power supplies; and a delay inverter; wherein the delay inverter has a first transistor and a second transistor of an identical channel type for one of a first charge and a first discharge, the first transistor and the second transistor being connected in series with each other between the output section and one power supply, and the delay inverter has a third transistor of a different channel type from the first transistor and the second transistor for one of a second charge and a second discharge, the third transistor being connected in parallel with one of the first transistor and the second transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Werapong Jarupoonphol, Yoshitoshi Kida
  • Publication number: 20110115539
    Abstract: A signal processing arrangement comprises a series of latches (XDL, L1, L2) arranged as a clocked delay line (CDL) having a data input and a data output that are coupled to each other so as to form an inverting loop. An enable circuit (ACDL) allows or prevents a latch (L2) in the series of latches from changing state depending on whether, one clock cycle ago, the latch concerned received a given binary value or the inverse of that given binary 5 value, respectively, from the preceding latch (L1) in the series of latches. Such a circuit configuration allows a low-cost frequency division by an odd number with relatively small duty cycle errors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2009
    Publication date: May 19, 2011
    Applicant: NXP B.V.
    Inventor: Johannes Hubertus Antonius Brekelmans
  • Patent number: 7932767
    Abstract: A technique for increasing the charge storage capacity of a charge storage device without changing its inherent charge transfer function. The technique may be used to implement a charge domain signal processing circuits such as Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) used in digital radio frequency signal receivers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2011
    Assignee: Kenet, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward Kohler, Michael P. Anthony
  • Publication number: 20110057699
    Abstract: Integrated circuit and programmable delay. One embodiment provides an integrated circuit including a programmable delay element having a plurality of single delay cells. The delay cells include a first input and a second input and a first output. The delay cells are arranged to form a chain such that the first output of a preceding delay cell is coupled to the second input of a successive delay cell. The first inputs of any delay cells are configured to receive an input signal to be delayed. The delay cells out of the plurality of delay cells is configured to constitute a starting point of a signal path including any of the delay cells arranged downstream of the starting point. The first output of the last delay cell in the chain forms an output of the programmable delay element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2010
    Publication date: March 10, 2011
    Applicant: QIMONDA AG
    Inventor: Kazimierz Szczypinski
  • Patent number: RE42250
    Abstract: A reduced area delay circuit and method are disclosed. The delay circuit uses a constant current source and a constant current drain to charge and discharge a capacitor and thus control the delay time of the delay circuit. The constant current source and drain can be implemented using current mirrors formed by configuring MOSFET transistors in a common source configuration. The delay circuit method includes the steps of receiving an input signal, delaying the input signal by using a constant current source or drain in combination with a capacitor, and then buffering the voltage on the capacitor using two inverters. A programmable delay circuit is also disclosed by adding additional pairs of current mirrors to the delay circuit and selectively enabling the pairs to adjust the delay time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2011
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics, Inc.
    Inventors: William A. Phillips, Mario Paparo, Piero Capocelli