Apple Inc.

Vijay Srinivas

Mansour Keramat

Yi Chun A Fu

Yuan-Ju Chao

KiYoung Nam

Capacitor structures with pitch-matched capacitor unit cells are described. In an embodiment, the capacitor unit cells are formed by interdigitated finger electrodes. The finger electrodes may be pitch-matched in multiple metal layers within a capacitor unit cell, and the finger electrodes may be pitch-matched among an array of capacitor unit cells. Additionally, border unit cells may be pitch-matched with the capacitor unit cells.

Metal-on-metal capacitors

An apparatus includes a series of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) stages and a comparison circuit coupled to a first ADC stage. The first ADC stage may be configured to compare an input signal to one or more conversion thresholds to generate a result. The first ADC stage may also be configured to generate an output signal based on a value of the result. In response to an assertion of a reset signal, the first ADC stage may be configured to set a level of the output signal voltage to a particular voltage. The comparison circuit may be configured to assert the reset signal in response to a determination that the input signal voltage exceeds an operating range defined by an upper overload threshold voltage and a lower overload threshold voltage.

Multi-stage overload protection scheme for pipeline analog-to-digital converters

A capacitive device is disclosed, including a first conductor formed on a lower metal layer and coupled to a first terminal. A second conductor is formed on an upper metal layer and a plurality of wires is partitioned into groups, each group including one wire from a respective metal layer. First and second wires of each group are coupled to a second terminal. A third wire of each group, adjacent to the first wire, is coupled to the first conductor. A fourth wire of each group, adjacent to the second wire, is coupled to the second conductor. Fifth wires of a first subset of the groups are coupled to the second conductor and fifth wires of a second subset of the groups are coupled to the first conductor. The fifth wire of each group is adjacent to the first wire and the second wire.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Vijay Srinivas