National Semiconductor Corporation

Texas Instruments Corporation

Jeffery Lee Nilles

Andy Strachan

Charles A Dark

William Max Coppock

Yogesh Kumar Ramadass

Sombuddha Chakraborty

Farzad Sahandiesfanjani

Mervin John

In described examples, a DC-DC converter provides electrical power. In response to an input voltage falling below a high voltage operation threshold, the converter repeatedly performs a first normal (N) phase and a second N phase. The first N phase includes delivering power through an inductor from the input voltage. The second N phase includes coupling an input terminal of the inductor to a ground. In response to the input voltage rising above a normal operation threshold, the converter performs a first high voltage (HV) phase, then a second HV phase, then a third HV phase, then the second HV phase, and then repeats from the first HV phase. The first HV phase includes delivering power through the inductor from the input voltage and charging a flying capacitor. The second HV phase includes coupling the input terminal of the inductor to the ground. The third HV phase includes delivering power through the inductor by discharging the flying capacitor through the inductor.

Converter topology with adaptive power path architecture

A silicide bridged anti-fuse and a method of forming the anti-fuse are disclosed. The silicide bridged anti-fuse can be formed with a tungsten plug metalization process that does not require any additional process steps. As a result, anti-fuses can be added to an electrical circuit as trim elements for no additional cost.

Method of forming a silicide bridged anti-fuse with a tungsten plug metalization process

Silicide bridged anti-fuse

Growing community of inventors

Los Altos, CA, United States of America

Jeffery Lee Nilles