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:
Jun. 25, 2002
Filed:
Jan. 07, 2000
Norbert Greitschus, Endingen, DE;
Micronas GmbH, Freiburg, DE;
Abstract
An amplifier has a first amplifier stage with a first input terminal to which an input signal is applied and with an output terminal that is connected to an input terminal of a second amplifier stage located downstream. The second amplifier stage provides an output signal that is fed back to a second input terminal of the first amplifier stage through a feedback path, which preferably contains a passive network. The amplification of this combination of the first and second amplifier stages with feedback depends essentially on the parameters of the network in the feedback path. The amplifier according to the invention also has a noise source that is connected in parallel with the first amplifier stage, and is also connected to the input terminal of the second amplifier stage. The level of a signal component at the output of the second amplifier stage depends on the parameters of the network in the feedback branch and the amplification of the first amplifier stage. These values are variable and can be adjusted such that the level of the signal component provided by the noise source is independent of the amplification of the amplifier. One embodiment of the passive network comprises a voltage divider, with one tap of the voltage divider connected to the second input terminal of the first amplifier stage. A k-fold multiple of the output signal at the second amplifier stage is applied to the second input terminal of the first amplifier stage, with the feedback factor k depending on the voltage divider ratio. The amplification of the first amplifier stage may also be adjustable as a function of the feedback factor k. In one embodiment, the first amplifier stage contains a plurality of amplifiers connected in parallel that can be switched as a function of the feedback factor k. The amplifiers of the first amplifier stage are therefore preferably designed as differential amplifiers.