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:
Mar. 28, 1995
Filed:
Aug. 13, 1993
James W Marsh, Sherwood, OR (US);
Keith H Lofstrom, Beaverton, OR (US);
Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville, OR (US);
Abstract
An improvement is provided for current sources of the type having three transistors configured as follows: The bases of the first (Q1) and second (Q2) transistors are tied together. The collector of the first transistor (Q1) is coupled to a first voltage (V.sub.CC,V.sub.EE) via a first resistor (R1). The emitter of the first transistor (Q1) is coupled to a second voltage (V.sub.EE,V.sub.CC) via a second resistor (R2). The collector of the second transistor (Q2) produces the output current (I.sub.OUT). The emitter of the second transistor (Q2) is coupled to the second voltage (V.sub.EE,V.sub.CC) via a third resistor (R3). The base of the third transistor (Q3) is coupled, either directly or indirectly through a fourth transistor (Q4), to the collector of the first transistor (Q1). The collector of the third transistor (Q3) is connected to the first voltage (V.sub.CC,V.sub.EE) and the emitter of that transistor (Q3) is connected to the bases of the first (Q1) and second (Q2) transistors. The improvement consists of a fourth resistor (R5) coupled between the base and the emitter of the first transistor (Q1), the fourth transistor preferably having a value that is one half of the value of the first resistor (R1) when no fourth transistor (Q4) is present and having a value that is equal to the value of the first resistor (R1) when a fourth transistor (Q4) is in the base path of the third transistor (Q3).