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. 11, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 15, 2002
Nathan R. Carter, Arroyo Grande, CA (US);
Analog Devices, Inc., Norwood, MA (US);
Abstract
A phase inversion prevention circuit for an op amp input stage includes a detection circuit which detects when either of the input pairs' intrinsic diodes is near a forward-biased condition. When such a condition is detected, a switching network switches tail current from the primary input pair to a secondary input pair which takes over the input stage's amplifying duties. For a folded cascode input stage, the detection circuit preferably detects the onset of phase inversion by monitoring the cascode voltage which drives the cascode transistors. The outputs of the secondary input pair are connected to bypass the cascode transistors. Thus, when the onset of phase inversion is detected, the primary input pair is disabled, the second input pair is enabled, and with the cascode transistors bypassed the secondary input pair avoids phase inversion.