VOLTAGE-TO-CURRENT CIRCUIT AND VOLTAGE-CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR APPARATUS

• US 20180175793A1
• Filed: 05/16/2017
• Published: 06/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: Hsu, Cheng-Seng
• Granted Patent: US 10,444,783 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 3/267 using both bipolar and field-effect technology
• CPC Class Codes: H03B 2200/0038 including a current mirror

Abstract

A voltage-to-current circuit employs low leakage manufacturing process transistor(s) to connect at least one non-controlled terminal (e.g. source, drain, or base of MOSFET) and/or control terminal (e.g. gate of MOSFET) of a low power manufacturing process transistor to a predetermined level such as ground level or power supply voltage level when turning off the low power manufacturing process transistor, so as to connect at least two terminals of the low power manufacturing process transistor to the same voltage level, for avoiding or reducing leakage current of the low power manufacturing process transistor when it is turned off.

Claims

1. A voltage-to-current circuit for converting an input voltage signal to an output current signal in proportion and outputting the output current signal to a current control oscillator, the voltage-to-current circuit comprising:

a switching transistor, being turned on when the voltage-to-current circuit is activated;

a working transistor, having a control terminal, a first terminal, and a second terminal, the control terminal being coupled to the input voltage signal to receive the input voltage signal, the first terminal being coupled to a ground level, the second terminal being coupled to one terminal of the switching transistor, the input voltage signal determining a conductance of the working transistor and being used for generating an output at the second terminal of the working transistor;

a current mirror circuit, at least including a pair of transistors, coupled to a supply voltage level and another terminal of the switching transistor, configured for generating the output current signal according to the output at the second terminal of the working transistor; and

at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor, coupled to the control terminal and the second terminal of the working transistor;

wherein, the working transistor and the current mirror circuit correspond to a first threshold voltage of a low power manufacturing process, the switching transistor and the at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor correspond to a second threshold voltage of a low leakage manufacturing process, the second threshold voltage being higher than the first threshold voltage; and

, when the voltage-to-current circuit is disabled, the switching transistor is turned off to become open, and the at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor is turned on, to make the control terminal and the second terminal of the working transistor be coupled to the ground level.

2. The voltage-to-current circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one second transistor, coupled to at least one non-control terminal of at least one of the pair of transistors of the current mirror circuit, corresponding to the second threshold voltage of the low leakage manufacturing process;

wherein when the voltage-to-current circuit is disabled, the at least one second transistor is turned on, to make a plurality of non-control terminals of at least one of the pair of transistors of the current mirror circuit be coupled to the supply voltage level.

3. The voltage-to-current circuit of claim 2, wherein the current mirror circuit is a cascode current mirror, the at least one second transistor comprises at least one set of second transistors, the cascode current mirror comprises:

a first pair of transistors, connected to the switching transistor; and

a second pair of transistors, cascode-connected to the first pair of transistors to connect the supply voltage level;

wherein when the voltage-to-current circuit is disabled, the at least one set of second transistors are turned on, to make a plurality of control terminals and a plurality of non-control terminals of the first pair of transistors and the second pair of transistors within the current mirror circuit are connected to the supply voltage level.

4. The voltage-to-current circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

another switching transistor, being turned on when the voltage-to-current circuit is activated;

another working transistor, having a control terminal, a first terminal, and a second terminal, the control terminal being coupled to the input voltage signal, the first terminal being coupled to the ground level, the second terminal being coupled to one terminal of the another switching transistor;

a biasing current circuit element, coupled to another terminal of the another switching transistor, configured for providing a bias current;

wherein that at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor comprises a set of first transistors connected to the control terminal and the second terminal of the working transistor and connected to the control terminal and the second terminal of the another working transistor;

the another working transistor corresponds to the first threshold voltage of the low power manufacturing process, and the another switching transistor corresponds to the second threshold voltage of the low leakage manufacturing process; and

, when the voltage-to-current circuit is disabled, the another switching transistor is turned off to be open, and the set of first transistors are turned on, to make the control terminal and the second terminal of the another working transistor be coupled to the ground level.

5. The voltage-to-current circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one second transistor, coupled to one transistor of the biasing current circuit element and the another terminal of the another switching transistor;

wherein the biasing current circuit element corresponds to the first threshold voltage of the low power manufacturing process, and the at least one second transistor corresponds to the second threshold voltage of the low leakage manufacturing process;

when the voltage-to-current circuit is disabled, the at least one second transistor is turned on, to make a non-control terminal of the transistor of the biasing current circuit element, coupled to the another switching transistor, be coupled to the supply voltage level.

6. A voltage-to-current circuit, for converting an input voltage signal into an output current signal in proportion and outputting the output current signal to a current controlled oscillator, the voltage-to-current circuit comprising:

a switching transistor, being turned on when the voltage-to-current circuit is activated;

a working transistor, having a control terminal, a first terminal, and a second terminal, the control terminal being coupled to the input voltage signal to receive the input voltage signal, the first terminal being coupled to a ground level, the second terminal being coupled to one terminal of the switching transistor, the input voltage signal determining a conductance of the working transistor and being used for generating an output at the second terminal of the working transistor;

a current mirror circuit, at least comprising a pair of transistors, the current mirror circuit being coupled to a supply voltage level and another terminal of the switching transistor, configured for generating the output current signal according to the output at the second terminal of the working transistor; and

at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor, coupled to at least one non-control terminal of at least one of the pair of transistors of the current mirror circuit;

wherein, the working transistor and the current mirror circuit both correspond to a first threshold voltage of a low power manufacturing process, the switching transistor and the at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor both correspond to a second threshold voltage of a low leakage manufacturing process, the second threshold voltage is higher than the first threshold voltage; and

, when the voltage-to-current circuit is disabled, the switching transistor is turned off to be open, and the at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor is turned on, to couple a plurality of non-control terminals of at least one of the pair of transistors of the current mirror circuit to the supply voltage level.

7. A voltage-controlled oscillator apparatus, comprising:

a current-controlled oscillator, configured for generating an output frequency signal according to a current signal; and

a voltage-to-current circuit, configured for converting an input voltage signal into a current signal in proportion and outputting the current signal to the current-controlled oscillator, the voltage-to-current circuit comprising;

a switching transistor, being turned on when the voltage-to-current circuit is enabled;

a working transistor, including a control terminal, a first terminal, and a second terminal, the control terminal being coupled to the input voltage signal to receive the input voltage signal, the first terminal being coupled to a ground level, the second terminal being coupled to one terminal of the switching transistor, the input voltage signal determining a conductance of the working transistor to generate an output at the second terminal of the working transistor;

a current mirror circuit, comprising a pair of transistors, the current mirror circuit being coupled to a supply voltage level and another terminal of the switching transistor and used for generating the output current signal according to the output at the second terminal of the working transistor; and

at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor, coupled to the control terminal and the second terminal of the working transistor;

wherein, the working transistor and the current mirror circuit both correspond to a first threshold voltage of a low power manufacturing process, and the switching transistor and the at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor both correspond to a second threshold voltage of a low leakage manufacturing process, the second threshold voltage is higher than the first threshold voltage; and

, when the voltage-to-current circuit is disabled, the switching transistor is turned off to be open, and the at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor is turned on, to couple the control terminal the second terminal of the working transistor to the ground level.

8. A voltage-controlled oscillator apparatus, comprising:

a current-controlled oscillator, configured for generating an output frequency signal according to a current signal; and

a voltage-to-current circuit, configured for converting an input voltage signal into a current signal in proportion and outputting the current signal to the current-controlled oscillator, the voltage-to-current circuit comprising;

a switching transistor, being turned on when the voltage-to-current circuit is enabled;

a working transistor, having a control terminal, a first terminal, and a second terminal, the control terminal being coupled to the input voltage signal to receive the input voltage signal, the first terminal being coupled to a ground level, the second terminal being coupled to a terminal of the switching transistor, the input voltage signal determining a conductance of the working transistor to generate an output at the second terminal of the working transistor;

a current mirror circuit, comprising a pair of transistors, coupled to a supply voltage level and another terminal of the switching transistor, configured for generating the output current signal according to the output at the second terminal of the working transistor; and

at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor, coupled to at least one non-control terminal of at least one of the pair of transistors of the current mirror circuit;

wherein the working transistor and the current mirror circuit both correspond to a first threshold voltage of a low power manufacturing process, the switching transistor and the at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor both correspond to a second threshold voltage of a low leakage manufacturing process, the second threshold voltage is higher than the first threshold voltage; and

, when the voltage-to-current circuit is disabled, the switching transistor is turned off to be open, and the at least one low leakage manufacturing process transistor is turned on, to couple a plurality of non-control terminals of at least one of the pair of transistors of the current mirror circuit tot the supply voltage level.