Monolithic class D amplifier
First Claim
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1. In a substrate of semiconductor material, a monolithic integrated circuit for providing a class D amplifier function comprising:
- (a) a conditioning circuit having an input for receiving an audio input frequency signal and generating an output series of class D amplifier conditioning pulses representative of the amplitude and the frequency of the audio input signal, said output series of pulses having a frequency substantially greater than said audio frequency;
(b) a bridge driver circuit having an input for receiving the output series of class D amplifier conditioning pulses and translating the voltage level of the pulses from the reference voltage to a driver voltage level, and means for generating a power MOSFET gate driver signal comprising a series of output driver pulses having pulse widths proportional to the sampled audio signal and pulse amplitudes at the driver voltage level;
(c) a bridge circuit comprising a plurality of power MOSFET devices for receiving the output power driving pulses from the bridge driver circuit, means for applying the power driver pulses to the gates of the power MOSFETs to generate output power voltage pulses at a power voltage level.
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Abstract
A monolithic integrated circuit is mounted in a speaker cabinet to drive the voice coil of the speaker. The monolithic integrated circuit may be a class D amplifier and is at least a half bridge or full bridge power MOSFET device. Structures comprise MOS switching devices of the bridge driver and N+ buried layer of the QVDMOS transistors of the bridge circuits.
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Citations
78 Claims
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1. In a substrate of semiconductor material, a monolithic integrated circuit for providing a class D amplifier function comprising:
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(a) a conditioning circuit having an input for receiving an audio input frequency signal and generating an output series of class D amplifier conditioning pulses representative of the amplitude and the frequency of the audio input signal, said output series of pulses having a frequency substantially greater than said audio frequency; (b) a bridge driver circuit having an input for receiving the output series of class D amplifier conditioning pulses and translating the voltage level of the pulses from the reference voltage to a driver voltage level, and means for generating a power MOSFET gate driver signal comprising a series of output driver pulses having pulse widths proportional to the sampled audio signal and pulse amplitudes at the driver voltage level; (c) a bridge circuit comprising a plurality of power MOSFET devices for receiving the output power driving pulses from the bridge driver circuit, means for applying the power driver pulses to the gates of the power MOSFETs to generate output power voltage pulses at a power voltage level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. In a substrate of semiconductor material, a monolithic integrated circuit comprising:
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(a) a class D amplifier having an input for receiving a signal with an audio frequency, means for sampling the audio input signal at a frequency substantially greater than the highest audio frequency in the audio input signal, and means for comparing the sampled audio signal to a reference voltage signal to provide a output series of width modulated pulses, each pulse having the amplitude of the reference voltage signal and a width proportional to the amplitude of the sampled audio signal, the series of pulses having a frequency substantially greater than said audio frequency; and (b) a bridge driver circuit having an input for receiving the output series of pulses of the class D amplifier and translating the voltage level of the pulses from the reference voltage to a driver voltage level, and means for generating a power MOSFET gate driver signal comprising a series of output driver pulses having pulse widths proportional to the sampled audio signal and pulse amplitudes at the driver voltage level. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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49. In a substrate of semiconductor material, a monolithic integrated circuit comprising:
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(a) a bridge driver circuit having an input for receiving a series of class D amplifier conditioning pulses and translating the voltage level of the pulses from a first voltage level to a driver voltage level, and means for generating a power MOSFET gate driver signal comprising a series of output driver pulses having pulse widths proportional to-the sampled audio signal and pulse amplitudes at the driver voltage level; and (b) a bridge circuit comprising a plurality of power MOSFET devices for receiving the output power driving pulses from the bridge driver circuit, means for applying the power driver pulses to the gates of the power MOSFETs to generate output power voltage pulses at a power voltage level.
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75. In a substrate of semiconductor material, a monolithic integrated circuit comprising:
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a bridge driver circuit having an input for receiving a series of class D amplifier conditioning pulses and translating the voltage level of the pulses from a first voltage level to a driver voltage level, and means for generating a power MOSFET gate driver signal comprising a series of output driver pulses having pulse widths proportional to the sampled audio signal and pulse amplitudes at the driver voltage level wherein said bridge driver circuit comprises a plurality of amplifiers for generating the power MOSFET gate driver signals and each amplifier comprises a power MOS switch comprising an array of MOS transistors wherein said array comprises a waffle pattern of drain regions and gate regions and a source distribution region comprising; a central source distribution region having first and second elongated source distribution regions disposed transverse to each other and defining four quadrants, each quadrant disposed between a first and second source distribution region; four drain regions, one drain region being located in each quadrant; and one or more gate regions separating the drain regions from the source distribution regions. - View Dependent Claims (76, 77)
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78. In a substrate of semiconductor material, a monolithic integrated circuit comprising bridge driver circuit having an input for receiving the output series of pulses of a class D amplifier and translating the voltage level of the pulses from a first voltage level to a driver voltage level, and means for generating a power MOSFET gate driver signal comprising a series of output driver pulses having pulse widths proportional to the sampled audio signal and pulse amplitudes at the driver voltage level wherein said bridge driver circuit comprises a power MOS switch comprising:
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an array of MOS devices, said array comprising alternating drain columns and source columns; each drain column comprising a plurality of separate drain regions closely spaced one from another; each source column comprising a continuous narrow elongated source distribution region extending the length of the column and a plurality of narrow source distribution branch regions connected to said elongated region and extending transversely from said elongated region at least partially between each separate drain region in each drain column adjacent to said source column; and a gate region separating the drain regions in each said drain column from the adjacent source distribution regions.
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Specification