Stmicroelectronics S.r.l.

Ranieri Guerra

Giuseppe Palmisano

Leandro Grasso

Roberto Larosa

Nunzio Greco

Francesca Giacoma Mignemi

Osvaldo Enrico Zambetti

Serena Angela Versace

In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating a buck-boost power supply includes operating the buck-boost power supply in a buck mode by providing a PWM signal to a first half-bridge circuit, and turning on a charge transfer switch coupled between a first boosted supply node of a second driver circuit coupled to the first half-bridge circuit and a second boosted supply node of a second driver circuit coupled to a second half-bridge circuit when a voltage between the second boosted supply node and an output of the second half-bridge circuit is below a first threshold; and operating the buck-boost power supply in a boost mode by providing a PWM signal to the second half-bridge circuit, and turning on the charge transfer switch when the voltage between the first boosted supply node and an output of the first half-bridge circuit is below a second threshold.

Buck-boost boot refresher circuit

A buck-boost converter circuit includes a mode selection circuit that asserts a buck enable signal if an input voltage is higher than a lower threshold, and asserts a boost enable signal if the input voltage is lower than an upper threshold. A control circuit asserts a buck PWM signal upon a pulse in a buck clock and de-asserts the buck PWM signal if a buck ramp is higher than a buck control signal, and it keeps the buck PWM signal asserted if the buck enable signal is de-asserted. The control circuit asserts a boost PWM signal upon a pulse in a boost clock and de-asserts the boost PWM signal if a boost ramp is higher than a boost control signal, and it keeps the boost PWM signal de-asserted if the boost enable signal is de-asserted.

Buck-boost DC-DC converter circuit and corresponding method of operation

A rectifier cell includes a first cell branch and a second cell branch that extend in parallel between two opposite nodes receiving an a.c. signal. The first cell branch includes a first pair of transistors arranged with their current paths cascaded, with a first intermediate point in-between. The second cell branch includes a second pair of transistors arranged with their current paths cascaded, with a second intermediate point in-between. Each of the pairs of transistors includes a first transistor with a control terminal coupled to one of the two opposite nodes and a second transistor with a control terminal coupled to the other of the two opposite nodes. The bulks of the transistors receive voltages in order to vary the transistor threshold voltage by bringing the threshold voltage to a first value during forward conduction and to a second value during reverse conduction.

Rectifier circuit with multiple cells, each cell having transistors with bulks biased by signals generated in other cells to control threshold voltage, and corresponding device and method

A receiver for digital signals includes a radiofrequency stage. A feedback loop controls a variable attenuation resistance applied to a modulated radiofrequency signal passing through the radiofrequency stage as a function of a comparison of an amplitude of the modulated radiofrequency signal with a reference value. A baseband stage includes an RC network cascaded to the radiofrequency stage and coupled to a baseband detector that generates the baseband signal. The feedback loop includes a circuit for detecting a range of variation of the comparison. The value of the variable resistance is controlled as a function of an end value (e.g., maximum or minimum) of the detected range of variation.

Receiver and corresponding process

A receiver for digital signals includes a radiofrequency stage. A feedback loop controls an amplitude of a modulated radiofrequency signal passing through the radiofrequency stage as a function of a comparison of a baseband signal with a reference value. A baseband stage includes an RC network cascaded to the radiofrequency stage and coupled to a baseband detector that generates the baseband signal. The feedback loop includes a circuit for detecting a range of variation of the comparison. The amplitude of the modulated radiofrequency signal is controlled as a function of an end value (e.g., maximum or minimum) of the detected range of variation. A switching circuit operates to selectively short circuit a resistive component of the RC network during receiver start-up.

A system may be for the correction of phase and amplitude errors. The system may receive a first input signal and a second input signal and supply a first output signal and a second output signal. The system may include two adders that supply the first and second output signals, respectively. The two adders may be configured for computing a sum of the first and second input signals, and multiplying the weighted sum by a third coefficient. Moreover, the first coefficient or the second coefficient of the first adder may be variable to enable correction of the phase errors, and the third coefficient of the second adder may be variable to enable correction of the amplitude errors.

System for the correction of amplitude and phase errors of in-quadrature signals, corresponding receiver and method

A calibration signal is generated from a modulating signal having a first frequency and a carrier signal having a second frequency. A single-sideband mixer modulates the modulating signal on the carrier signal. At least two frequency dividers by two connected in cascade receive the modulating signal modulated on the carrier signal and generate an output of the calibration signal.

System for generating a calibration signal, related transceiver and method

A radio-frequency amplifier includes a common gate amplification stage configured to be biased in a saturation condition with a first current and configured to receive an input signal as a gate-source voltage and to generate an output voltage as an amplified replica of the input signal. A feedback transistor is configured to be biased in a saturation condition with a second current and coupled to the common gate amplification stage so as to have a gate-drain voltage corresponding to a difference between the output voltage and the input signal.

Radio-frequency amplifier

The disclosure relates to an electronic differential amplification device integrated on a semiconductor chip. The device may include first and second transistors having respective source terminals connected to a first potential, and drain terminals to receive a first differential current signal. The device may include third and fourth transistors having respective source terminals connected to the first potential, and drain terminals to provide a second differential current signal to a load obtained by amplifying the first signal. The third and fourth transistors may have a respective gate terminal connected to the drain terminal of the first and the second transistors, respectively, in order to form current mirrors with the latter. The device is characterized in that the first and second transistors may have the respective gate terminals electrically connected to a common terminal, and at least one first and at least one second resistive elements are connected between the common terminal and the drain terminals of the first and the second transistors, respectively.

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S. Giovanni la Punta, Italy

Ranieri Guerra