Circuit and method for controlling charge injection in radio frequency switches

• US 9,397,656 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2014
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: pSemi Corporation (Murata Manufacturing Co Limited)
• Original Assignee: Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation (Murata Manufacturing Co Limited)
• Inventors: Dribinsky, Alexander, Kim, Tae Youn, Kelly, Dylan J., Brindle, Christopher N.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHINGLETON, MICHAEL B
• Application Number:
  US14/257,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20150015321A1
• Time in Patent Office: 820 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/04 Modifications for accelerating switching
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/06 Modifications for ensuring a fully conducting state
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/08 Modifications for protecting switching circuit against overcurrent or overvoltage
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/102 in field-effect transistor switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/161 in field-effect transistor switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/284 in field effect transistor switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/6874 in a symmetrical configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/689 with galvanic isolation between the control circuit and the output circuit H03K17/78 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/0009 AC switches, i.e. delivering AC power to a load

Abstract

A circuit and method for controlling charge injection in a circuit are disclosed. In one embodiment, the circuit and method are employed in a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) Radio Frequency (RF) switch. In one embodiment, an SOI RF switch comprises a plurality of switching transistors coupled in series, referred to as “stacked” transistors, and implemented as a monolithic integrated circuit on an SOI substrate. Charge injection control elements are coupled to receive injected charge from resistively-isolated nodes located between the switching transistors, and to convey the injected charge to at least one node that is not resistively-isolated. In one embodiment, the charge injection control elements comprise resistors. In another embodiment, the charge injection control elements comprise transistors. A method for controlling charge injection in a switch circuit is disclosed whereby injected charge is generated at resistively-isolated nodes between series coupled switching transistors, and the injected charge is conveyed to at least one node of the switch circuit that is not resistively-isolated.

Claims

1. A switch circuit, comprising:

(a) a plurality of switching transistors, each having a gate configured to be coupled to a gate control signal and a gate-controlled channel, coupled in series through their respective gate-controlled channels to selectively convey a signal from an input of the series coupled switching transistors to an output of the series coupled switching transistors, the series of switching transistors including;

(1) a plurality of resistively-isolated nodes, each resistively-isolated node located between a different pair of the switching transistors in series; and

(2) at least one non-resistively-isolated node located adjacent to one of the plurality of the switching transistors in series;

and

(b) a plurality of charge injection control transistors, each control transistor having a gate configured to be coupled to a charge injection control signal and a gate-controlled channel operatively coupled between a different one of the plurality of resistively-isolated nodes and the at least one non-resistively-isolated node to selectively communicate injected charge from the different one of the plurality of resistively-isolated nodes to the at least one non-resistively-isolated node;

wherein each control transistor selectively switches between an OFF-state and an ON-state in response to application of the charge injection control signal, and selectively controls communication of injection charge only while in the ON-state.

2. The switch circuit of claim 1, wherein when the series of switching transistors are switched from an ON-state to an OFF-state, the control transistors are switched from the ON-state to the OFF-state in response to application of the control signal after a selected delay time interval.

3. The switch circuit of claim 1, wherein each control transistor has a width Wc substantially smaller than a width Ws of an associated and corresponding switching transistor such that the capacitance between the gate and the channel of each control transistor is substantially smaller than the capacitance between the gate and the channel of the associated and corresponding switching transistor.

4. The switch circuit of claim 3, wherein Wc is approximately 0.1 as large as Ws.

13. The switch circuit of claim 1, wherein the switching transistors are enhancement-mode n-channel MOSFETs.

16. The switch circuit of claim 1, wherein the control transistors are enhancement-mode n-channel MOSFETs.

5. A method of controlling charge injection in a switch circuit, including:

(a) employing a plurality of switching transistors, each having a gate configured to be coupled to a gate control signal and a gate-controlled channel, and being coupled in series through their respective gate-controlled channels, to selectively convey a signal from an input of the series coupled switching transistors to an output of the series coupled switching transistors;

the series of switching transistors including;

(1) a plurality of resistively-isolated nodes, each resistively-isolated node located between a different pair of the switching transistors in series; and

(2) at least one non-resistively-isolated node located adjacent to one of the plurality of the switching transistors in series;

(b) generating injected charge at the plurality of resistively-isolated nodes;

(c) operatively coupling one of a plurality of charge injection control transistors, each control transistor having a gate configured to be coupled to a charge injection control signal and a gate-controlled channel, between a different one of the plurality of resistively-isolated nodes and the at least one non-resistively-isolated node to selectively communicate injected charge from the different one of plurality of resistively-isolated nodes to the at least one non-resistively-isolated node; and

(d) selectively switching each control transistor between an OFF-state and an ON-state in response to application of the charge injection control signal, and selectively controlling communication of injection charge only while in the ON-state.

6. The method of claim 5, further including:

(a) switching the series of switching transistors from an ON-state to an OFF-state; and

(b) switching the control transistors from the ON-state to the OFF-state in response to application of the control signal after a selected delay time interval after the series of switching transistors is switched to the OFF-state.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein each control transistor has a width Wc substantially smaller than a width Ws of an associated and corresponding switching transistor such that the capacitance between the gate and the channel of each control transistor is substantially smaller than the capacitance between the gate and the channel of the associated and corresponding switching transistor.

8. The switch circuit of claim 7, wherein Wc is approximately 0.1 as large as Ws.

14. The method of claim 5, wherein the switching transistors are enhancement-mode n-channel MOSFETs.

17. The method of claim 5, wherein the control transistors are enhancement-mode n-channel MOSFETs.

9. A switch circuit, including:

(a) a plurality of switching transistors, each having a gate configured to be coupled to a gate control signal and a gate-controlled channel, coupled in series through their respective gate-controlled channels to selectively convey a signal from an input of the series coupled switching transistors to an output of the series coupled switching transistors;

the series of switching transistors including;

(1) a plurality of gate resistors, wherein a gate of each switching transistor is connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of gate resistors, and wherein each gate resistor is connected to a control line that conveys a control signal to the gate of each corresponding switching transistor;

(2) a plurality of resistively-isolated nodes, each resistively-isolated node located between a different pair of the switching transistors in series; and

(3) at least one non-resistively-isolated node located adjacent to one of the plurality of the switching transistors in series;

(b) means for generating injected charge at the plurality of resistively-isolated nodes; and

(c) control transistor switching means, operatively coupled to the generating means, each control transistor switching means having a gate configured to be coupled to a charge injection control signal and a gate-controlled channel, for selectively communicating injected charge from the different one of plurality of resistively-isolated nodes to the at least one non-resistively-isolated node,

(d) wherein each control transistor switching means selectively switches between an OFF-state and an ON-state in response to application of the charge injection control signal, and selectively controls communication of injection charge only while in the ON-state.

10. The switch circuit of claim 9, further including:

(a) means for switching the series of switching transistors from an ON-state to an OFF-state; and

(b) means for switching the control transistor switching means from the ON-state to the OFF-state in response to application of the control signal after a selected delay time interval after the series of switching transistors is switched to the OFF-state.

11. The switch circuit of claim 9, wherein each control transistor switching means has a width Wc substantially smaller than a width Ws of an associated and corresponding switching transistor such that the capacitance between the gate and the channel of each control transistor switching means is substantially smaller than the capacitance between the gate and the channel of the associated and corresponding switching transistor.

12. The switch circuit of claim 11, wherein Wc is approximately 0.1 as large as Ws.

15. The switch circuit of claim 9, wherein the switching transistors are enhancement-mode n-channel MOSFETs.

18. The switch circuit of claim 9, wherein the control transistors are enhancement-mode n-channel MOSFETs.

19. A radio-frequency (RF) signal switching circuit implemented as a monolithic integrated circuit (IC) on a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, including:

(a) a plurality of signal switching MOSFET transistors, each MOSFET transistor having (A) a gate coupled to a gate resistor configured to be coupled to a gate control signal, each gate resistor having a resistance of approximately Rg, and (B) a gate-controlled channel, wherein the plurality of signal switching MOSFET transistors are coupled in series through their respective gate-controlled channels to selectively convey, in response to the gate control signal, an RF signal from an input of the series-coupled signal switching MOSFET transistors to an output of the series-coupled signal switching MOSFET transistors, the series-coupled signal switching MOSFET transistors further including;

(1) a plurality of resistively-isolated nodes, each resistively-isolated node located between a different pair of the series-coupled signal switching MOSFET transistors and receiving injected charge when the plurality of series-coupled signal switching MOSFET transistors is switched from an ON state to an OFF state; and

(2) at least one non-resistively-isolated node located adjacent to one of the plurality series-coupled signal switching MOSFET transistors;

and

(b) a plurality of charge injection control resistors, each charge injection control resistor operatively coupled between a different one of the plurality of resistively-isolated nodes and the at least one non-resistively-isolated node to continuously communicate received injected charge from the different one of the plurality of resistively-isolated nodes to the at least one non-resistively-isolated node, each charge injection control resistor having a resistance Rc approximately equal to Rg/N, wherein N is the number of transistors in the plurality of series-coupled signal switching MOSFET transistors.

20. The RF signal switching circuit of claim 19, wherein the switching transistors are enhancement-mode n-channel MOSFETs.