Infineon Technologies Ag

Lantiq Deutschland Gmbh

Infineon Technologies Austria Ag

Richard Gaggl

Andreas Wiesbauer

Christian Jenkner

Gerhard Noessing

Benno Muehlbacher

Francesco Polo

Wilfried Florian

Luca Valli

Cesare Buffa

Christian Schranz

Andrea Baschirotto

Martin Clara

Luis Hernandez

Joachim Pichler

Dietmar Straussnigg

Frederic Pecourt

Enrique Prefasi

Daniel Gruber

Niccoló De Milleri

Michael Reinhold

Philipp Greiner

Peter Pessl

Joerg Hauptmann

Dario Giotta

Jorg Hauptmann

Dietmar Sträussnigg

Maurizio Inversi

Christopher Rogi

Fulvio Ciciotti

Ulrich Reichold

Manfred Nopp

Ercan Ramazan

Francisco Javier Perez Sanjurjo

Ramazan Ercan

Ivonne Di Sancarlo

Stefan Matschitsch

Dietmar Straussnig

Bernd Rainer

A microphone includes a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device responsive to sound waves or vibrations having an output coupled to a first node; a programmable gain amplifier or source follower having an input coupled to a second node, and an output for generating an analog signal, wherein the MEMS device output and the programmable gain amplifier or source follower input comprise a first nonlinear equivalent capacitance having a first capacitance-to-voltage (CV) profile; and a nonlinear capacitance component coupled to the first node, the second node, and at least one reference voltage node, wherein the nonlinear capacitance component comprises a second nonlinear equivalent capacitance having a second CV profile.

Capacitive linearization method applied to MEMS microphones systems

A readout circuit for resistive and capacitive sensors includes a first input coupled to a reference resistor in a first mode of operation and coupled to a resistive sensor in a second mode of operation; a second input coupled to a capacitive sensor in the first mode of operation and coupled to a reference capacitor in the second mode of operation; and an output for providing a capacitive sensor data stream in the first mode of operation and for providing a resistive sensor data stream in the second mode of operation.

Readout circuit for resistive and capacitive sensors

In various embodiments, a measuring arrangement is provided. The measuring arrangement may include a micromechanical sensor including a capacitor, a bridge circuit including a plurality of capacitors, at least one capacitor of which is the capacitor of the micromechanical sensor, an amplifier coupled, on the input side, to an output of the bridge circuit, a DC voltage source configured to provide an electrical DC voltage, a chopper including at least one first charge store and a switch structure, The switch structure is configured to couple the first charge store alternately to the DC voltage and the bridge circuit for the purpose of coupling an electrical mixed voltage into the bridge circuit.

Circuit architecture for a measuring arrangement, a level converter circuit, a charge pump stage and a charge pump, and method for operating same

In accordance with an embodiment, a circuit includes an amplifier and a programmable capacitor coupled between an output of the first non-inverting and the input of the first amplifier.

System and method for signal read-out using source follower feedback

According to various embodiments, a multi-slope converter can have the following: an integrator circuit having a charge store; a clocked comparator; a sensor circuit having a capacitor arrangement and a charging circuit for pre-charging the capacitor arrangement, a discharging circuit; a switch arrangement and a controller circuit for actuating the switch arrangement based on a clock signal; wherein the controller circuit is set up to actuate the switch arrangement such that, alternately: in an integration cycle electrical charge is transferred from the capacitor arrangement of the sensor circuit to the charge store of the integrator circuit, and in a deintegration cycle the charge store of the integrator circuit is discharged by means of the discharging circuit, wherein after the integration cycle a residual charge remains stored in the charge store of the integrator circuit and is taken into consideration during a subsequent integration cycle.

Self-oscillating multi-ramp converter and method for converting a capacitance into a digital signal

An embodiment amplifier circuit includes a pair of subcircuits that includes a first subcircuit and a second subcircuit, each of which includes a buffer amplifier and a feedback circuit that includes a feedback capacitor. The amplifier circuit also includes a pair of output terminals. The first subcircuit and the second subcircuit each generate a different output signal of a pair of output signals that includes a first output signal and a second output signal. The amplifier circuit is configured for receiving a positive differential input signal at the first subcircuit, receiving a negative differential input signal at the second subcircuit, and receiving the pair of output signals at the pair of output terminals. The amplifier circuit is also configured for transmitting the first output signal to the feedback circuit of the first subcircuit, and transmitting the second output signal to the feedback circuit of the second subcircuit.

A circuit for biasing a MEMS microphone includes a first group of serially-coupled transistors coupled between a first node and a second node, a second group of serially-coupled transistors coupled between the first node and the second node, and a voltage divider circuit coupled to the second node having a number of outputs, a first group of outputs being coupled to corresponding control nodes associated with the first group of serially-coupled transistors, and a second group of outputs different from the first group of outputs coupled to corresponding control nodes associated with the second group of serially-coupled transistors, the control nodes being either bulk nodes or gate nodes.

PVT compensated resistive biasing architecture for a capacitive sensor

Sensor devices and methods are provided where a test signal is applied to a capacitive sensor. Furthermore, a bias voltage is applied to the capacitive sensor via a high impedance component. A path for applying the test signal excludes the high impedance component. Using this testing signal, in some implementations a capacity imbalance of the capacitive sensor may be detected.

Capacitive sensor testing

According to an embodiment, a circuit includes a high-&#x3a9; resistor including a plurality of semiconductor junction devices coupled in series and a plurality of additional capacitances formed in parallel with the plurality of semiconductor junction devices. Each semiconductor junction device of the plurality of semiconductor junction devices includes a parasitic doped well capacitance configured to insert a parasitic zero in a noise transfer function of the high-&#x3a9; resistor. Each additional capacitance of the plurality of additional capacitances is configured to adjust a parasitic pole in the noise transfer function of the high-&#x3a9; resistor in order to compensate for the parasitic zero.

System and method for a high-ohmic resistor

The disclosure is directed to low-power high-resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADCs) circuits implemented with a delta-sigma modulators (DSMs). The DSM includes a single-bit, self-oscillating digital to analog converter (SB-DAC) and a dual-slope integrating quantizer that may replace an N-bit quantizer found in a conventional DSM. The integrating quantizer of this disclosure oscillates after quantization because the SB-DAC in the feedback path directly closes the DSM loop. The integrating quantizer circuit includes a switch at the input and two phases per sample cycle. During the first phase the switch sends an input analog signal to an integrator. During the second phase, the switch sends the feedback signal from the output of the self-oscillating SB-DAC to the integrator. The input to the SB-DAC may be output from a clocked comparator.

Self-oscillating dual-slope integrating quantizer for sigma delta modulators

A signal amplification method includes receiving, from a capacitive sensor, a first input signal by a first control terminal of a first transistor, and a second input signal by a first control terminal of a second transistor. The method also includes producing a first output signal, including amplifying a first signal at a first load path terminal of the first transistor using a first inverting amplifier having an output coupled to a resistance network, and producing a second output signal, including amplifying a second signal at a first load path terminal of the second transistor using a second inverting amplifier having an output coupled to the resistance network. The method also includes feeding back the first and second output signal to a second load path terminal of the first transistor and to a second load path terminal of the second transistor via the resistance network according to a pre-determined fraction.

System and method for signal amplification using a resistance network

According to an embodiment, an interface circuit includes a current replicator and a receiver. The current replicator includes a power terminal coupled to a first reference node, an output terminal configured to output a signal proportional to a signal received from a transducer, and an interface terminal coupled to the transducer. Using a single interface terminal, the current replicator may be configured to provide power to the transducer and receive output signals from the transducer. The receiver may include a first input terminal coupled to the output terminal, a second input terminal coupled to a second reference node, and a current converter circuit coupled to the first input terminal.

System and method for a transducer interface

According to various embodiments, a circuit includes a charge pump and a feedback circuit. The charge pump includes a first input, a second input configured to receive an offset signal, and an output terminal configured to provide a charge pump signal based on the first and second inputs. The feedback circuit includes a first input coupled to the output of the charge pump, a second input configured to be coupled to a reference signal, an enable input configured to enable and disable the feedback circuit, and a feedback output coupled to the first input of the charge pump.

System and method for a controlled feedback charge pump

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Poertschach, Austria

Richard Gaggl