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. 01, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 20, 1998
David Susak, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Microchip Technology Incorporated, Chandler, AZ (US);
Abstract
A driver circuit for low voltage operation of a Successive Approximation Register (SAR) based Analog/Digital (A/D) converter is disclosed. The driver circuit has a plurality of cells wherein each cell is used for driving an individual column of a capacitor array. A switching circuit is held within each of the plurality of cells. The switching circuit is used for outputting one of a high voltage level V.sub.H or a low voltage level V.sub.L to an individual column of the capacitor array while driving no DC current. The switching circuit is comprised of a pair of fully differential pass gates. The pass gates are driven by circuitry referenced off of the supply voltage V.sub.dd of the A/D converter integrated circuit and ground. Because of this, each pass gate may operate off of any voltage within the V.sub.dd to ground range. Thus, the switching circuit allows for low voltage operation with a wider operating range.