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. 25, 2008
Filed:
Dec. 22, 2004
Suryadevara Maheedhar, Bangalore, IN;
Badrinarayanan Kothandaraman, Bangalore, IN;
Suryadevara Maheedhar, Bangalore, IN;
Badrinarayanan Kothandaraman, Bangalore, IN;
Cypress Semiconductor Corp., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A low voltage detect circuit is provided herein for detecting when an external voltage (Vext) drops below a predetermined minimum voltage. In general, the low voltage detect circuit described herein may be configured to detect a low voltage condition based on a threshold voltage difference between a non-zero threshold transistor having a substantially non-zero threshold voltage, and a zero threshold transistor having a threshold voltage relatively close to zero. According to a particularly advantageous aspect of the invention, the low voltage detect circuit described herein comprises substantially no resistors or reference voltage generation circuits, and therefore, provides significant savings in both current and die area consumption without sacrificing accuracy. The low voltage detect circuit of the present invention is particularly useful in power regulators, such as those used in memory systems or devices.