Switch circuit and method of switching radio frequency signals
First Claim
1. An RF switching circuit comprising:
- (a) a switch transistor grouping having a first switch node and a second switch node;
(b) a shunt transistor grouping having a first shunt node coupled with the second switch node and a second shunt node coupled with a reference voltage;
(c) a control logic configured to output a first control signal and a second control signal; and
(d) a negative voltage generator coupled with the control logic, the negative voltage generator being configured to generate a negative power supply voltage with respect to the reference voltage;
wherein;
(i) the switch transistor grouping has a control switch node configured to receive the first control signal;
(ii) the shunt transistor grouping has a control shunt node configured to receive the second control signal; and
(iii) the RF switching circuit is fabricated as a monolithic integrated circuit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An RF switch circuit and method for switching RF signals that may be fabricated using common integrated circuit materials such as silicon, particularly using insulating substrate technologies. The RF switch includes switching and shunting transistor groupings to alternatively couple RF input signals to a common RF node, each controlled by a switching control voltage (SW) or its inverse (SW_), which are approximately symmetrical about ground. The transistor groupings each comprise one or more insulating gate FET transistors connected together in a “stacked” series channel configuration, which increases the breakdown voltage across the series connected transistors and improves RF switch compression. A fully integrated RF switch is described including control logic and a negative voltage generator with the RF switch elements. In one embodiment, the fully integrated RF switch includes an oscillator, a charge pump, CMOS logic circuitry, level-shifting and voltage divider circuits, and an RF buffer circuit.
81 Citations
17 Claims
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1. An RF switching circuit comprising:
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(a) a switch transistor grouping having a first switch node and a second switch node; (b) a shunt transistor grouping having a first shunt node coupled with the second switch node and a second shunt node coupled with a reference voltage; (c) a control logic configured to output a first control signal and a second control signal; and (d) a negative voltage generator coupled with the control logic, the negative voltage generator being configured to generate a negative power supply voltage with respect to the reference voltage; wherein; (i) the switch transistor grouping has a control switch node configured to receive the first control signal; (ii) the shunt transistor grouping has a control shunt node configured to receive the second control signal; and (iii) the RF switching circuit is fabricated as a monolithic integrated circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An RF switching circuit comprising:
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(a) a switch transistor grouping having a first switch node and a second switch node; (b) a shunt transistor grouping having a first shunt node coupled with the second switch node and a second shunt node coupled with a reference voltage; (c) a control logic configured to output a first control signal and a second control signal; and (d) a negative voltage generator coupled with the control logic, the negative voltage generator being configured to generate a negative power supply voltage with respect to the reference voltage; wherein; (i) the switch transistor grouping has a control switch node configured to receive the first control signal; and (ii) the shunt transistor grouping has a control shunt node configured to receive the second control signal.
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14. An on-chip method of switching RF signals comprising:
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(a) providing a switch transistor grouping and a shunt transistor grouping; (b) inputting an RF signal to the switch transistor grouping; (c) generating a negative voltage with respect to a reference voltage; (d) generating a first control signal and a second control signal based on the negative voltage; (e) in an ON state;
enabling the switch transistor grouping using the first control signal and disabling the shunt transistor grouping using the second control signal, thereby passing the RF signal; and(f) in an OFF state;
disabling the switch transistor grouping using the first control signal and enabling the shunt transistor grouping using the second control signal, thereby blocking the RF signal from passing. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification