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. 14, 2006
Filed:
Oct. 16, 2003
Farhood Moraveji, Saratoga, CA (US);
Farhood Moraveji, Saratoga, CA (US);
Micrel, Incorporated, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A current mirror includes a serially connected diode-connected transistor of a first conductivity type, a saturated (fully-on) transistor of a second conductivity type, and a current source for providing a reference current. A gate voltage generated by the diode-connected transistor in response to the reference current is provided to the gate of a matching transistor. This causes the matching transistor to mirror the reference current. Meanwhile, an output transistor cascoded with the matching transistor is gate-coupled to the junction between the saturated transistor and the current source. This allows the output transistor to provide an output voltage swing from one supply voltage to two saturation voltage drops from the second supply voltage. Meanwhile, the cascode configuration gives the current mirror a high output impedance.