The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 12, 1991
Filed:
Dec. 20, 1990
John Reed, Los Altos, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides apparatus and methods to achieve a high speed bi-CMOS differential amplifier with controlled output voltage swing for use in amplifying low level complementary logic signals. The differential amplifier is comprised of a load current controller and a sense amplifier. The load current controller compares a desired reference voltage to the voltage drop across a simulated load. The load current controller then produces therefrom a bias voltage corresponding to the current which results in a voltage drop equal to the reference voltage. The bias voltage, when applied to the sense amplifier, limits the output of the sense amplifier to a controlled voltage swing of magnitude equal to the reference voltage.