Rail-to-rail line driver using differential cascode bootstraping

• Main Authors: WANG JING, TAN JUNHUA, HAMMAD MOSTAFA MOHAMMAD HANY ALI, YAO YUAN, PAN HUI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 08.03.2016
• Subjects: AMPLIFIERS; BASIC ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; INFORMATION STORAGE; PHYSICS; STATIC STORES; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION

Aspects of rail-to-rail line drivers using differential cascode bootstrapping are described. In one embodiment, a differential line driver includes first and second differential driver output legs. The first output leg includes a first p-type cascode stack and a first n-type cascode stack, and the second output leg includes a second p-type cascode stack and a second n-type cascode stack. The differential line driver also includes a differential cascode bootstrap circuit arrangement coupled to an output of the differential line driver. More particularly, the differential cascode bootstrap circuit arrangement is coupled between the first and second differential output driver legs and the output of the differential line driver. According to aspects of the embodiments described herein, differential line drivers with overvoltage protection and rail-to-rail output swings may be achieved. Further, the differential line drivers may be generally smaller, with cascode stack transistors of reduced in size.