| 摘要 |
A driver circuit includes three non-contiguous high-voltage wells formed within a low-voltage monolithic silicon substrate; a high-side driver circuit fabricated within each of the wells; a separate logic input path for each of the high-side driver circuits, each input path comprising a logic signal input terminal, a signal amplifier, a noise filter, a pulse generator, and a high-voltage level shifter; an output terminal for each driver circuit, each output terminal coupled to its associated driver circuit output through a separate mask-configurable, variable-value output resistor bank, which reduces the number of external components needed for driver circuitry; a startup circuit which prevents operation of an associated high-side switch during periods of line voltage instability; and embedded capacitor banks, each of which is in close proximity to a high-side switch, for reducing capacitive, resistive and inductance losses associated with long metal lines. |
| 主权项 |
1. A driver circuit for switching a supply voltage across as few as one load and as many as three loads, said circuit comprising:
three non-contiguous high-voltage wells formed within a low-voltage monolithic silicon substrate; a high-side driver fabricated within each of the three high-voltage wells, each high-side driver having
a half bridge consisting of a P-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (“MOSFET”) in series with an N-channel MOSFET, both MOSFETs sharing a common drain that serves as a driver output, said P-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply input, and said N-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply return,a half-bridge control module having an output that is coupled to a gate of each MOSFET; a separate logic input path for each of the high-side drivers, each input path comprising a logic signal input terminal, a signal amplifier, a noise filter, a pulse generator, and a high-voltage level shifter, in that order, wherein the signal amplifier, the noise filter, and the pulse generator of each path are positioned outside of the high-voltage well of their associated driver circuit, and the high-voltage level shifter, which has outputs that are coupled to the half-bridge control module, straddles the low-voltage substrate and the high-voltage well of its associated driver circuit; and an output terminal for each high-side driver circuit, each output terminal coupled to its associated driver output through an output resistor bank having a resistance value that is set with a metal mask during manufacture. |
