Apparatus and methods for biasing radio frequency switches

• US 9,374,124 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2014
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Analog Devices International Unlimited Company (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Analog Devices Global Unlimited Company (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kolcuoglu, Turusan, Cavus, Bilal Tarik, Atesal, Yusuf Alperen
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TUAN HOANG
• Application Number:
  US14/506,468
• Publication Number:
  US 20160099743A1
• Time in Patent Office: 627 Days
• Field of Search: 455/26.1, 455/78, 455/333, 455/560
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/063 in field-effect transistor switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/102 in field-effect transistor switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/693 Switching arrangements with several input- or output-terminals, e.g. multiplexers, distributors logic circuits H03K19/00; code converters H03M5/00, H03M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2017/066 Maximizing the OFF-resistance instead of minimizing the ON-resistance
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/0054 Gating switches, e.g. pass gates
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/44 Transmit/receive switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/48 in circuits for connecting transmitter and receiver to a common transmission path, e.g. by energy of transmitter H04B1/46 takes precedence

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for radio frequency (RF) switches are provided herein. In certain implementations, an RF switching circuit includes an adaptive switch bias circuit that controls gate and/or channel voltages of one or more field effect transistor (FET) switches. Additionally, the adaptive switch bias circuit is powered by a power high supply voltage and a power low supply voltage, and can be used to selectively turn on or off the FET switches based on a state of one or more switch enable signals. The adaptive switch bias circuit adaptively biases that gate and/or channel voltages of the FET switches based on a voltage difference between the power high and power low supply voltages to provide switch biasing suitable for use with two or more different power supply voltage levels.

Claims

1. A radio frequency (RF) switching circuit comprising:

one or more field effect transistor (FET) switches comprising a first FET switch; and

an adaptive switch bias circuit configured to control a gate voltage and a channel voltage of the first FET switch, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to receive a switch enable signal, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to bias the first FET switch with a turn-on voltage to turn on the first FET switch when the switch enable signal is in a first state, and wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to bias the first FET switch with a turn-off voltage to turn off the first FET switch when the switch enable signal is in a second state,

wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to be powered by a power high supply voltage and a power low supply voltage, and wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to control a magnitude of the turn-on voltage and a magnitude of the turn-off voltage based on a voltage difference between the power high supply voltage and the power low supply voltage,

wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit comprises;

a supply dependent voltage generation circuit configured to receive the power high supply voltage and to generate a dependent voltage that changes in relation to a voltage level of the power high supply voltage, wherein the supply dependent voltage generation circuit is configured to generate a voltage drop; and

a voltage divider configured to generate a bias voltage based on a voltage difference between the dependent voltage and the power low supply voltage.

2. The RF switching circuit of claim 1, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to control the gate voltage of the first FET switch to the bias voltage.

3. The RF switching circuit of claim 2, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit further comprises a switch control logic circuit configured to receive the switch enable signal, wherein when the switch enable signal is in the first state the switch control logic circuit controls the channel voltage of the first FET switch to the power high supply voltage, and wherein when the switch enable signal is in the second state the switch control logic circuit controls the channel voltage of the first FET switch to the power low supply voltage.

4. The RF switching circuit of claim 1, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to control the channel voltage of the first FET switch to the bias voltage.

5. The RF switching circuit of claim 4, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit further comprises a switch control logic circuit configured to receive the switch enable signal, wherein when the switch enable signal is in the first state the switch control logic circuit controls the gate voltage of the first FET switch to the power low supply voltage, and wherein when the switch enable signal is in the second state the switch control logic circuit controls the gate voltage of the first FET switch to the power high supply voltage.

6. The RF switching circuit of claim 1, wherein the supply dependent voltage generation circuit comprises a subtraction circuit configured to generate the dependent voltage by subtracting a predetermined amount of voltage from the power high supply voltage.

7. The RF switching circuit of claim 6, wherein the supply dependent voltage generation circuit further comprises a bandgap voltage reference circuit configured to generate the predetermined amount of voltage, wherein the predetermined amount of voltage comprises a bandgap reference voltage.

8. The RF switching circuit of claim 6, wherein the voltage divider comprises a first resistor and a second resistor electrically connected in series between the dependent voltage and the power low supply voltage.

9. The RF switching circuit of claim 1, wherein the one or more FET switches comprises a plurality of FET switches, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to control a gate voltage and a channel voltage of each of the plurality of FET switches.

10. A radio frequency (RF) switching circuit comprising:

one or more field effect transistor (FET) switches comprising a first FET switch; and

an adaptive switch bias circuit configured to control a gate voltage and a channel voltage of the first FET switch, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to receive a switch enable signal, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to bias the first FET switch with a turn-on voltage to turn on the first FET switch when the switch enable signal is in a first state, and wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to bias the first FET switch with a turn-off voltage to turn off the first FET switch when the switch enable signal is in a second state,

wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to be powered by a power high supply voltage and a power low supply voltage, and wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit is configured to control a magnitude of the turn-on voltage and a magnitude of the turn-off voltage based on a voltage difference between the power high supply voltage and the supply voltage,

wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit includes a gate bias output configured to control the gate voltage of the first FET switch and a channel bias output configured to control the channel voltage of the first FET switch, wherein the RF switching circuit further comprises;

a gate bias resistor electrically connected between the gate bias output and a gate of the first FET switch; and

a first channel bias resistor electrically connected between the channel bias output and a source of the first FET switch; and

a second channel bias resistor electrically connected between the source of the first FET switch and a drain of the first FET switch.

11. The RF switching circuit of claim 10, further comprising:

an RF input terminal;

an RF output terminal;

a first DC blocking capacitor electrically connected between the RF input terminal and the source of the first FET switch; and

a second DC blocking capacitor electrically connected between the drain of the first FET switch and the RF output terminal.

12. The RF switching circuit of claim 10, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit further comprises a switch control logic circuit configured to receive the switch enable signal, wherein when the switch enable signal is in the first state the switch control logic circuit controls the channel voltage of the first FET switch to the power high supply voltage, and wherein when the switch enable signal is in the second state the switch control logic circuit controls the channel voltage of the first FET switch to the power low supply voltage.

13. The RF switching circuit of claim 10, wherein the adaptive switch bias circuit comprises:

a supply dependent voltage generation circuit configured to receive the power high supply voltage and to generate a dependent voltage that changes in relation to a voltage level of the power high supply voltage, wherein the supply dependent voltage generation circuit is configured to generate a voltage drop; and

a voltage divider configured to generate a bias voltage based on a voltage difference between the dependent voltage and the power low supply voltage.

14. The RF switching circuit of claim 13, wherein the supply dependent voltage generation circuit comprises a subtraction circuit configured to generate the dependent voltage by subtracting a predetermined amount of voltage from the power high supply voltage.

15. The RF switching circuit of claim 14, wherein the supply dependent voltage generation circuit further comprises a bandgap voltage reference circuit configured to generate the predetermined amount of voltage, wherein the predetermined amount of voltage comprises a bandgap reference voltage.

16. The RF switching circuit of claim 13, wherein the voltage divider comprises a first resistor and a second resistor electrically connected in series between the dependent voltage and the power low supply voltage.

17. An electronically-implemented method of biasing a radio frequency (RF) switch, the method comprising:

powering an adaptive switch bias circuit using a power high supply voltage and a power low supply voltage;

controlling a magnitude of a turn-on voltage and a magnitude of a turn-off voltage based on a voltage difference between the power high supply voltage and the power low supply voltage;

generating a dependent voltage from the power high supply voltage using a supply dependent voltage generation circuit, wherein the dependent voltage changes in relation to a voltage level of the power high supply voltage;

generating a bias voltage based on dividing a voltage difference between the dependent voltage and the power low supply voltage using a voltage divider;

receiving a switch enable signal as an input to the adaptive switch bias circuit; and

controlling a gate voltage and a channel voltage of a first field effect transistor (FET) switch using the adaptive switch bias circuit, wherein controlling the gate voltage and the channel voltage of the first FET switch comprises;

biasing the first FET switch using the turn-on voltage when the switch enable signal is in a first state, and

biasing the first FET switch using the turn-off voltage when the switch enable signal is in a second state.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising controlling the gate voltage of the first FET switch to the bias voltage.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising controlling the channel voltage of the first FET switch to the power high supply voltage when the switch enable signal is in the first state, and controlling the channel voltage of the first FET switch to the power low supply voltage when the switch enable signal is in the second state.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising controlling the channel voltage of the first FET switch to the bias voltage.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising controlling the gate voltage of the first FET switch to the power low supply voltage when the switch enable signal is in the first state, and controlling the gate voltage of the first FET switch to the power high supply voltage when the switch enable signal is in the second state.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein generating the dependent voltage comprises shifting the power high supply voltage by a predetermined amount of voltage.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating the reference voltage using a bandgap voltage reference circuit, wherein the predetermined amount of voltage comprises a bandgap reference voltage.