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:
Feb. 17, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 02, 1996
Applicant:
Inventors:
Frank J Kolanko, Greenville, RI (US);
Robert M Lanoue, Greenwich, RI (US);
Assignee:
Cherry Semiconductor Corporation, East Greenwich, RI (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G05F / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
323303 ; 323273 ; 323282 ; 327541 ;
Abstract
An output driver for providing a gate voltage to an external positive-channel field-effect transistor (PFET) device. A capacitor accumulates charge which, upon switching by an input switching signal, is applied, in addition to the supply voltage, to the base of a drive circuit NPN transistor to rapidly pull the PFET gate voltage, derived at the emitter of the drive circuit NPN transistor, up to the supply voltage. An active voltage limiter, coupled in parallel with the drive circuit, limits excursion of the gate voltage with respect to the supply voltage.