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Devices and methods for improving voltage handling and/or bi-directionality of stacks of elements when connected between terminals

  • US 8,669,804 B2
  • Filed: 06/18/2010
  • Issued: 03/11/2014
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2008
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A unit cell for a sub-circuit of a digitally tunable capacitor (DTC), the sub-circuit being adapted to be coupled between a first RF terminal and a second RF terminal, the unit cell comprising:

  • a plurality of 2N stacked switches, the stacked switches proceeding from a first switch closest to the first RF terminal and farthest from the second RF terminal to an 2N-th switch farthest from the first RF terminal and closest to the second RF terminal,wherein;

    N represents an integer greater than or equal to two;

    the first RF terminal is a terminal through which a voltage source is adapted to be coupled to the unit cell;

    the 2N stacked switches comprise a first set of N switches close to the first RF terminal and far from the second RF terminal and a second set of N switches far from the first RF terminal and close to the second RF terminal, each switch of the first set and second set being coupled in parallel with a compensating capacitor thus providing a compensated capacitance value for that switch when the switch is in an off state, andeach switch of the first set has a corresponding switch of the second set having the same compensated capacitance value, wherein the first switch and the 2N-th switch are equal in size and are the largest switches among the plurality of 2N switches.

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