U.S. Philips Corporation

Hans-Jurgen O Schumacher

Evert Seevinck

Jan Dikken

An integrated circuit which includes a converter for converting a logic input signal of a first logic type into a logic output signal of a second logic type, for example, from ECL to CMOS level. The converter comprises a buffer, including a controllable load and a driver transistor, and a control circuit. The load is controlled as a function of a control voltage and a reference voltage which are externally applied so that the output signal is substantially equal to the reference voltage if the input signal is substantially equal to the control voltage. In one embodiment the control circuit is a copy of the buffer and receives the control voltage at its input. Its load is controlled by a differential amplifier whose inputs receive the reference voltage and the output voltage of the control circuit. A CMOS-SRAM comprising ECL/CMOS level converters of the above kind communicates with fast ECL circuits and has a low energy consumption.

Integrated circuit comprising a signal level converter

A transistor circuit comprising a first differential amplifier which is composed of a differential pair and a current mirror. The transistor circuit further comprises a second differential amplifier which measures a differential offset voltage in the first differential amplifier and reduces this offset voltage by means of common mode current feedback. The transistor circuit thus provides a stable amplifier having a high speed and a low offset voltage which can be used advantageously in a logic output buffer so that, for example, an ECL output buffer can be realized in CMOS.

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Hans-Jurgen O Schumacher