Picor Corporation

Sipex Corporation

Claudio Tuozzolo

Patrizio Vinciarelli

Christopher John Sanzo

John P Clarkin

Alex Gusinov

Aiman Alhoussami

Andreas Gerasimos Ladas

Robert M Lanoue

In some implementations, a method of dynamically maintaining a device's operation within a safe operating area (SOA) may include sensing instantaneous voltage and current of the device; determining, based on the sensed instantaneous voltage and current, a value that represents a power dissipated in the device; using the determined dissipated power and a model of thermal behavior of the device to model a junction temperature of the device; and controlling operation of the device based on the modeled junction temperature. A programmable SOA circuit including sensing, scaling, filtering, and controlling functions may be packaged on a single die or in a package with a power transistor.

Dynamic safe operating area control

A package for one or more semiconductor die is described. A generally rectangular package includes two large terminals that occupy substantially the entire length of the package and provide low resistance connections. Additional connections may be provided preferably in a central portion of a short end of the package. BGA connections between the semiconductor die and the package substrate provide low impedance connections between the die and the package contacts. The package and connections facilitate current flow orthogonal to the longest package dimension maximizing conductor width and minimizing interconnection resistance.

Low loss package for electronic device

High-performance low-power isolated bootstrapped gate drive apparatus and methods are disclosed for driving high-side and floating transistors. The gate drivers use edge-triggered capacitive-coupled inputs. The gate drivers may include detection and delay circuitry to facilitate zero-voltage-switching of the high side or floating transistor and providing more robust rejection of false triggering. A capacitively coupled differential input edge triggered gate driver provides exceptional immunity to false triggering. The gate drivers may be used in transformer coupled drive circuits using transformers that need only support coupled pulses wide enough to be recognized as an edge by the input circuit.

Capacitively coupled floating gate driver

In one aspect the invention relates to a method of selecting a state from a plurality of states using a program pin. The method includes connecting the program pin to one of a first current source and a second current source, in response to a first voltage applied to the program pin, to thereby generate a second voltage at the program pin, and selecting a state from the plurality of states in response to the first and second voltages. In another embodiment, the method includes determining whether the first voltage exceeds a first reference voltage. In another embodiment, the method includes connecting the program pin to the first current source if the first voltage does not exceed the first reference voltage, and connecting the program pin to the second current source if the first voltage exceeds the first reference voltage.

Method and apparatus for a multi-state single program pin

This invention synchronizes the control signals generated by the out-of-range detection circuits with a predefined event. In one aspect, the invention relates to a method of controlling a switching regulator to regulate an output voltage. The method includes receiving a first enable signal and a second enable signal, comparing a feedback voltage representative of the output voltage to a first reference voltage and generating a first limit signal in response thereto and generating, in response to the first enable signal, a close switch command if the first limit signal indicates that the feedback voltage is less than the first reference voltage. The method further includes comparing the feedback voltage to a second reference voltage and generating a second limit signal in response thereto and generating, in response to the second enable signal, an open switch command if the second limit signal indicates that the feedback voltage is greater than the second reference voltage.

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Johnston, RI, United States of America

Claudio Tuozzolo