Xilinx, Inc.

Toan D Tran

Vassili Kireev

James Karp

Parag Upadhyaya

Greg W Starr

Mark J Marlett

Cheng Hsiang Hsieh

A shielded inductor in an integrated circuit includes conductive loops disposed on a deep-well noise shield for isolating a noise coupling between the conductive loops and the substrate of the integrated circuit. The deep-well noise shield includes a first well disposed within a second well that is disposed within the substrate of the integrated circuit. The second well includes a peripheral well, a deep-well layer, and slot wells. The peripheral well surrounds a periphery of the first well. The peripheral well and the deep-well layer are coupled together to provide two p-n junctions that separate the first well and the substrate. The slot wells are distributed inside the periphery of the first well. Each slot well and the deep-well layer are coupled together. Each slot well has a width and a length that is at least three times the width.

Inductor having a deep-well noise isolation shield

An embodiment of a circuit is described that includes a first inductor comprising a first end and a second end, where the first end of the first inductor forms an input node of the circuit. The embodiment of the circuit further includes a second inductor comprising a first end and a second end, where the second end of the first inductor is coupled to the first end of the second inductor forming an output node of the circuit; a resistor coupled to the second end of the second inductor; and an electrostatic discharge structure coupled to the output node and configured to provide an amount of electrostatic discharge protection, where the amount of electrostatic discharge protection is based on a parasitic bridge capacitance and a load capacitance metric.

T-coil network design for improved bandwidth and electrostatic discharge immunity

An integrated circuit device includes an input/output (IO) pad, and a programmable termination capacitance circuit coupled to the IO pad, the programmable termination capacitance circuit comprising at least one compensation bank, wherein each of the at least one compensation bank includes a compensation capacitor coupled to a reference voltage through a compensation pass gate.

Control of termination capacitance for maximum transmitter bandwidth extension

Method and apparatus for amplification in an IC are described. A dual mode isolation amplifier having two modes of operation is provided. In the first mode of operation for a resistor-loaded differential transconductance with additional gain, a first switch circuit is placed in a substantially nonconductive state for electrically decoupling from a first current source node and a second current source node. A second switch circuit is placed in a substantially conductive state for electrically coupling a capacitor thereof to the first current source node and the second current source node. At high frequencies, a first resistance associated with the capacitor coupled in parallel with a resistive load is substantially reduced. The resistive load is coupled between the first current source node and the second current source node. The first resistance is reduced by approximating a short circuit by the capacitor during high-frequency operation.

Dual-mode amplifier

Embodiments of an integrated circuit driver, a method for operating integrated circuit driver, and predrivers are described. In one embodiment of the integrated circuit driver, a bias control circuit provides a bias signal for a first mode and a second mode. The bias signal has a first voltage level associated with operation in the first mode and a second voltage level associated with operation in the second mode. An output driver circuit receives the bias signal. In the first mode, the output driver circuit operates as a supply referenced driver, and in the second mode, the output driver circuit operates as a ground referenced driver.

Output driver and operation thereof

A method of generating a circuit design comprising a T-coil network includes determining inductance for inductors and a parasitic bridge capacitance of the T-coil network. The parasitic bridge capacitance is compared with a load capacitance metric that depends upon parasitic capacitance of a load coupled to an output of the T-coil network. An amount of electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection of the circuit design that is coupled to the output of the T-coil network and/or a parameter of the inductors of the T-coil network is selectively adjusted according to the comparison. The circuit design, which can specify inductance of the inductors, the amount of ESD protection, and/or the width of windings of the inductors, is outputted.

A unit cell for a programmable termination circuit in an integrated circuit and a method for programming such termination circuit are described. In an embodiment, such unit cells may have three n-type and three p-type transistors. A first transistor is coupled to receive a first float control signal. A second transistor is coupled to receive a second float control signal. The third and fourth transistors are coupled to receive a first termination voltage control signal. The fifth and sixth transistors are coupled to receive a second termination voltage control signal. The first float control signal and the second float control signal are a pair of complementary signals.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Toan D Tran