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:
Oct. 31, 2006
Filed:
Aug. 31, 2005
Arnoldus Venes, Laguna Niguel, CA (US);
Yonghua Cong, Aliso Viejo, CA (US);
Arnoldus Venes, Laguna Niguel, CA (US);
Yonghua Cong, Aliso Viejo, CA (US);
Broadcom Corporation, Irvine, CA (US);
Abstract
A wide gain range current digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is presented that includes a unit current cell having a current source module biased by a current source voltage bias, a differential switch module, a main cascode module biased by a first bias voltage and an attenuation cascode module biased by a second bias voltage, configured such that a particular current gain range is obtained at the main cascode module output when a unit current cell current is at or above a current threshold. The output current at the attenuation cascode module output can be input into a current attenuator when the unit current cell current is below the current threshold to obtain additional current gain range. The current attenuator can include a plurality of attenuator cells that can be programmed to a desired level of current gain in linear decibels or linear step intervals. Smaller step sizes can be obtained by programming a current source within the step intervals.