Stmicroelectronics S.r.l.

Davide Lena

Simone Crespi

Marco Pasotti

Marcella Carissimi

Fabio De Santis

Domenico Tripodi

Francesco Ferrazza

Mirko Gravati

Fabrizio Torricelli

Zsolt Miklos Kovacs-Vajna

Massimiliano Leggenda

Giancarlo Pisoni

LED strings cascaded to one another are driven by an electronic circuit that includes regulation modules and a brightness-compensation module. The regulation modules carry out in sequence a current-regulation phase, in which they regulate the current that flows in the corresponding LED strings. The regulation module includes: a compensation regulator coupled to a compensation LED string and to a capacitor and a generator that generates an electrical quantity indicating the luminous flux emitted by the LED strings and by the compensation LED string. The compensation regulator regulates a current that flows in the compensation LED string as a function of the electrical quantity, discharging the capacitor through the compensation LED string.

Electronic circuit for driving LED strings so as to reduce the light flicker

A control device for a switching converter having a transformer, with a primary winding receiving an input quantity, a secondary winding providing an output quantity, an auxiliary winding providing a feedback quantity, and a switch element. The control device has a processing module for generating a control signal for switching the switch element on the basis of the feedback quantity in order to regulate the output quantity via alternation of phases of storage and transfer of energy. The processing module controls the end of the transfer phase by comparing the feedback quantity with a comparison threshold. A discrimination circuit generates a signal for discrimination between the presence of a short circuit on the output or the fact that the input quantity is lower than a threshold. The processing module controls the end of the energy-transfer phase also on the basis of the discrimination signal.

Control device for a quasi-resonant switching converter, and corresponding control method

An electronic circuit drives a plurality of LED strings connected in series. The electronic circuit includes a regulation module corresponding to each LED string, with the regulation module connected to the cathode terminal of the corresponding LED string. Each regulation module is further coupled to receive a reference voltage in phase with a rectified a.c. voltage. The regulation modules execute in turn and in sequence a current-regulation phase as a function of a trend of the reference voltage. Each regulation module, when executing the current-regulation phase, functions to regulate the current that flows in the corresponding LED string and in any previous LED strings in the series connection so that the regulated current is proportional to the reference voltage.

Electronic circuit for driving LED strings including a plurality of regulation modules which function in sequence

A non-volatile memory device integrated in a chip of semiconductor material. An embodiment of a memory device includes a plurality of memory cells. Each memory cell includes a first well and a second well of a first type of conductivity that are formed in an insulating region of a second type of conductivity. The memory cell further includes a first, a second, and a third region of the second type of conductivity that are formed in the first well; these regions define a selection transistor of MOS type and a storage transistor of floating gate MOS type that are coupled in series. Moreover, the memory device includes a selection gate of the selection transistor, a floating gate of the storage transistor, and a control gate of the storage transistor formed in the second well; the control gate is capacitively coupled with the floating gate.

FTP memory device with single selection transistor

An embodiment of a non-volatile memory device integrated in a chip of semiconductor material is proposed. The memory device includes a plurality of memory cells. Each memory cell includes a first well and a second well of first type of conductivity that are formed in an insulating region of a second type of conductivity. The memory cell further includes a first, a second, a third and a fourth region of the second type of conductivity that are formed in the first well; these regions define a sequence of a first selection transistor of MOS type, a storage transistor of floating gate MOS type, and a second selection transistor of MOS type that are coupled in series. The first region is short-circuited to the first well. Moreover, the memory device includes a first gate of the first selection transistor, a second gate of the second selection transistor, and a floating gate of the storage transistor. A control gate of the storage transistor is formed in the second well; the control gate is capacitively coupled with the floating gate.

FTP memory device with programming and erasing based on Fowler-Nordheim effect

An embodiment of non-volatile memory device integrated in a chip of semiconductor material is proposed. The memory includes at least one sector of a plurality of memory cells; each sector includes a storage region of a first type of conductivity and a further storage region of a second type of conductivity. Each memory cell includes a first region and a second region of the second type of conductivity, which are formed in the storage region for defining a storage transistor of floating gate MOS type of the first type of conductivity; the memory cell likewise includes a further first region and a further second region of the first type of conductivity, which are formed in the further storage region for defining a further storage transistor of floating gate MOS type of the second type of conductivity. The memory cell also includes a common floating gate of the storage transistor and the further storage transistor. The memory device further includes programming means for programming each memory cell individually by programming the corresponding floating gate through the corresponding storage transistor, and erasing means for erasing each memory cell individually by erasing the corresponding floating gate through the corresponding further storage transistor.

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Turin, Italy

Davide Lena