| Patent Number |
Title Of Patent |
Date Issued |
| 7375393 |
Non-volatile memory (NVM) retention improvement utilizing protective electrical shield |
May 20, 2008 |
| An electrical shield is provided in a non-volatile memory (NVM) cell structure to protect the cell's floating gate from any influence resulting from charge redistribution in the vicinity of the floating gate during a programming operation. The shield may be created from the second po |
| 7373833 |
MEMS pressure sensing device |
May 20, 2008 |
| A pressure sensing system formed in a monolithic semiconductor substrate. The pressure sensing system comprises a pressure sensing device formed on the monolithic semiconductor substrate. The pressure sensing device is adapted to be disposed in an environment for developing an electrical |
| 7373211 |
Graphical user interface for compliance monitoring in semiconductor wafer fabrication and method |
May 13, 2008 |
| A system and method is disclosed for allocating multi-function resources among a plurality of tasks within a process system in semiconductor wafer fabrication. A resource allocator allocates multi-function resources among tasks within a process system that executes at least one appli |
| 7373121 |
Apparatus and method for processing a deterministic data flow associated with a wireless communi |
May 13, 2008 |
| The invention is directed to an apparatus, method and system for providing reduced power consumption, fast processing of digitized communication signals and relatively easy reconfiguration for different applications, such as communication protocols/standards. The invention recognizes tha |
| 7372863 |
Systems for monitoring and controlling operating modes in an ethernet transceiver and methods of |
May 13, 2008 |
| Disclosed are systems and methods for monitoring and controlling operating modes in a network transceiver. In one embodiment, a computer system is associable with an Ethernet network, and comprises a processing unit, a memory and a transceiver. The transceiver comprises an encoder, a dec |
| 7372392 |
Charge balancing method in a current input ADC |
May 13, 2008 |
| A method for charge balancing in a current input ADC including maintaining a low capacitance value at the integrator output node where the capacitance value is independent of the integrator output voltage and operating conditions, generating a first voltage pedestal at a first active |
| 7372391 |
Pipeline ADC with memory effects achieving one cycle absolute over-range recovery |
May 13, 2008 |
| A data conversion stage circuit (104) for an opamp-shared pipeline analog-to-digital converter (ADC) (100) includes an over-range detection and recovery circuit including first and second switches (S3, S4) connected between respective input terminals (136, 137) and output terminals ( |
| 7372386 |
Parallel digital-to-analog-converter |
May 13, 2008 |
| A method for performing parallel digital-to-analog conversion of an n-bit digital input data signal at a frequency of f.sub.s including receiving the n-bit digital input data signal; generating M-1 delayed input data signals, M being the number of parallel conversions channels, the M-1 |
| 7372319 |
Constant boosted voltage generator circuit for feedback switches in a switched capacitor circuit |
May 13, 2008 |
| A boosted voltage generator circuit includes a precharge voltage generator circuit and a first capacitor. The precharge voltage generator circuit receives a first DC voltage and a first power supply voltage and generates a precharge voltage having a first voltage value. The precharge |
| 7372285 |
Socket-less test board and clamp for electrical testing of integrated circuits |
May 13, 2008 |
| A socket-less test board and a clamp for clamping an integrated circuit to the socket-less test board is disclosed. The test board includes a recess region for receiving an integrated circuit to be tested. The clamp includes a base structure with a recess region to accommodate the in |
| 7372241 |
Apparatus and method for switching voltage regulation |
May 13, 2008 |
| A regulator is provided. The regulator includes a main switch, a synchronous switch, an inductor, a sample-and-hold circuit, a ramp generator, a PWM comparator, an error amplifier, and a current sense amplifier. A current through the synchronous switch is sensed by the current sense |
| 7372238 |
Apparatus and method for step-down switching voltage regulation |
May 13, 2008 |
| A current mode PWM buck regulator is provided. The regulator includes a top-side transistor, a bottom-side transistor, an inductor, a sample-and-hold circuit, a ramp generator, a PWM comparator, an error amplifier, and a current sense amplifier. A current through the low-side transis |
| 7369724 |
Apparatus and method for an improved lens structure for polymer wave guides which maximizes free |
May 6, 2008 |
| A polymer waveguide assembly. The assembly includes a polymer waveguide have a plurality of waveguide cores and an associated plurality of lenses respectively. The assembly also includes a molded lens structure having a support region, a primary refractive surface and a secondary refract |
| 7369591 |
System for controlling peaking for a driver for a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser |
May 6, 2008 |
| A driver for a vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is provided that includes a bias current source, a modulation source, and a peaking control circuit. The bias current source is operable to generate a bias current for the VCSEL and an output voltage. The modulation current |
| 7366207 |
High speed elastic buffer with clock jitter tolerant design |
April 29, 2008 |
| A receiver for high-speed indirect synchronous digital data transmission includes an elastic buffer receiving an incoming data stream containing embedded timing information preceding a data sequence, generating a recovered clock from the timing information, initially synchronizing the |
| 7362173 |
System and method for providing slew rate enhancement for two stage CMOS amplifiers |
April 22, 2008 |
| A slew rate enhancement circuit is disclosed for increasing a slew rate in a two stage CMOS amplifier. The slew rate enhancement circuit detects an input signal transition in the two stage CMOS amplifier. Depending on the polarity of the input signal transition the slew rate enhancement |
| 7362126 |
Floating CMOS input circuit that does not draw DC current |
April 22, 2008 |
| A floating CMOS input circuit is disclosed that does not draw direct current. The floating CMOS input circuit comprises a first inverter circuit that is capable of being coupled to an input voltage (Vin) and an n-channel pull-down transistor (N1) that is coupled to the first inverter |
| 7362081 |
Low-dropout regulator |
April 22, 2008 |
| A low-dropout regulator is provided that includes a filter and a bandgap reference generator. The filter includes a resistive device and a capacitor. The bandgap reference generator is coupled to the filter and includes a resistive device controller. The resistive device controller i |
| 7360118 |
Method and system for verifying data in a shadow memory |
April 15, 2008 |
| A system for verifying data in a shadow memory is provided that includes a main memory, a shadow memory, a shadow memory initializer, and a shadow memory verifier. The main memory is operable to store main data persistently. The shadow memory is operable to store shadow data temporar |
| 7358611 |
System and method for adjusting the ratio of deposition times to optimize via density and via fi |
April 15, 2008 |
| A system and method is disclosed for adjusting the ratio of deposition times to optimize via density and via fill in an aluminum multilayer metallization process during a manufacturing process of a semiconductor wafer. In a two-step cold/hot aluminum sputtering process via fill becom |
| 7356105 |
Method and system for providing maximum likelihood detection with decision feedback interference |
April 8, 2008 |
| A method for providing maximum likelihood detection with decision feedback interference cancellation is provided. The method includes estimating a current symbol with previous symbol interference (PSI) removed based on estimated previous symbols. A next symbol is estimated with PSI remov |
| 7355582 |
Switched capacitor cyclic DAC in liquid crystal display column driver |
April 8, 2008 |
| A method and circuit for providing analog voltages to an LCD panel based on digital voltages. A gamma curve defining a relationship between the applied voltage and a luminescence of the liquid crystals is implemented in a timing controller through a look-up table, an algorithm, and the |
| 7355577 |
Linear DAC in liquid crystal display column driver |
April 8, 2008 |
| A method and circuit for providing analog voltages to an LCD panel based on digital voltages. A gamma curve defining a relationship between the applied voltage and a luminescence of the liquid crystals is implemented in a timing controller through a look-up table, an algorithm, and the |
| 7355217 |
MOS transistor structure with easy access to all nodes |
April 8, 2008 |
| A transistor device structured such that the bulk, gate, drain, and source are all accessible from all four edges of the device is provided. The transistor is created with a four-metal CMOS process. A bulk connection can be made with Metal 1, which is all around the device. A gate co |
| 7354802 |
Thermal release wafer mount tape with B-stage adhesive |
April 8, 2008 |
| In one aspect, an improved wafer mount tape is provided. The wafer mount tape includes a base layer, a release layer that expands when activated and a B-stageable adhesive layer that is positioned over the release layer. In a method aspect of the invention, a wafer level method of pl |
| 7353419 |
Apparatus and method to balance set-up and hold times |
April 1, 2008 |
| A circuit for data/clock deskewing includes a data delay circuit and a clock circuit. The data delay circuit is arranged to select a delay for the data signal responsive to a data delay signal. The clock circuit is arranged to provide an even clock signal and an odd clock signal, and to |
| 7352704 |
Method and apparatus for multi-path delay spread detection in wideband CDMA systems |
April 1, 2008 |
| A fast, low-complexity detection scheme for determining the delays and gains of different propagation paths (i.e., multi-paths) of a received WCDMA signal. The method utilizes a continuous pilot channel that is scrambled by an known pseudo-random sequence. The received signal is prov |
| 7352242 |
Programmable gain trim circuit |
April 1, 2008 |
| A programmable gain amplifier includes a first gain setting circuit and a second gain setting circuit that are both coupled to an output of an amplifier. A trim adjustment circuit is and arranged to complete feedback to the amplifier by digitally panning between the first gain setting an |
| 7352166 |
Resistance ratio digitizing ohmmeter system |
April 1, 2008 |
| A digitizing ohmmeter system for providing a digital resistance ratio measurement includes a high impedance current source providing a DC excitation current to an impedance-varying input sensor and a reference resistor and an ADC circuit including a charge-balancing modulator and a d |
| 7352032 |
Output driver with split pins |
April 1, 2008 |
| The drains of the PMOS transistor and the NMOS transistor of a driver are separated and connected to two spaced-apart pins. The spaced-apart pins provide ESD protection to the NMOS transistor, which can be turned on during an ESD event by voltages that propagate through the PMOS tran |
| 7352001 |
Method of editing a semiconductor die |
April 1, 2008 |
| Resistance and capacitance are added to a prototype die to fix or identify performance issues with the integrated circuit formed in the die by forming a thin piece of silicon on the top surface of the die. For resistance, vias are formed to regions on the metal traces and to opposite |
| 7351593 |
Method of improving on-chip power inductor performance in DC-DC regulators |
April 1, 2008 |
| A method is provided for forming the ferromagnetic core of an on-chip inductor structure. In accordance with the method, a static, permanent magnet is placed in proximity to a semiconductor wafer upon which the ferromagnetic core is being electroplated. The permanent magnet is place |
| 7348639 |
Method for providing a deep connection to substrate or buried layer in a semiconductor device |
March 25, 2008 |
| A system and method is disclosed for providing a deep connection to a substrate or buried layer of a semiconductor device. Three shallow trenches are etched halfway through a layer of epitaxial silicon that is located on a substrate. A second doped layer is created in the epitaxial s |
| 7346465 |
Method of testing the objects in a set to obtain an increased level of quality |
March 18, 2008 |
| A method performs quality control testing on the objects in a set of objects to obtain a level of quality. The method identifies a number of objects that satisfy the static testing limits, determines statistical measures from the number of objects, determines a dynamic range of values |
| 7345714 |
Video signal clamp |
March 18, 2008 |
| A circuit and method for clamping a composite video component signal at the video black level by using horizontal synchronization timing information contained within the signal and clamping the signal during a time interval in which it is at the desired black level. |
| 7345530 |
Regulated switch driving scheme in switched-capacitor amplifiers with opamp-sharing |
March 18, 2008 |
| A switched-capacitor amplifier circuit including first and second pairs of sampling capacitors for sampling a pair of input signals includes a voltage regulator coupled to receive a first reference voltage and generate a first regulated output voltage related to the first reference v |
| 7345459 |
Emulated inductor current automatic correction without knowledge of actual inductor current ramp |
March 18, 2008 |
| Method and circuit for automatic correction of emulated inductor current without knowledge of actual inductor current ramp for an emulated current mode (ECM) PWM switching regulator. In an ECM-PWM switching regulator a compensation ramp component is usually added to an up-slope. An exces |
| 7342427 |
Automatic clock based power-down circuit |
March 11, 2008 |
| An apparatus and method for automatically transitioning the operation of an electronic device to a reduced power consumption state if an input reference clock signal is stopped or no longer synchronized (locked) with the operation of the electronic device. The electronic device is au |
| 7342425 |
Method and apparatus for a symmetrical odd-number clock divider |
March 11, 2008 |
| A method and apparatus for dividing the frequency of an input clock signal by an odd integer is disclosed. The output of two asymmetrical clock dividers may be combined to produce a divided clock signal having a symmetrical waveform. Finite state machines may be used as asymmetrical |
| 7342387 |
System and method for providing a highly efficient wide bandwidth power supply for a power ampli |
March 11, 2008 |
| A system and a method are disclosed for providing a highly efficient wide bandwidth power supply for a power amplifier. A power supply control circuit of the invention comprises a wide bandwidth low drop out (LDO) circuit and a highly efficient switcher circuit. The switcher circuit |
| 7342383 |
Apparatus and method for smooth DCM-to-CCM transition in a multi-phase DC-DC converter |
March 11, 2008 |
| A multi-phase regulator that provides a smooth transition between DCM and CCM by employing partially synchronous rectification in which a duty cycle of a synchronous switch enable signal is gradually increased to 100%. The regulator includes a separate inductor, high-side switch, and |
| 7342297 |
Sawn power package |
March 11, 2008 |
| In one embodiment of the invention, a lead-frame is designed for use in IC packages such as those conforming to the TO 220 standard or other standards for power packages. The device areas of the lead-frame are arranged in columns, and each column is molded so as to expose a portion o |
| 7340181 |
Electrical die contact structure and fabrication method |
March 4, 2008 |
| A semiconductor device of the invention includes an integrated circuit formed on a semiconductor substrate having first and second surfaces and a notch region along the edges. The first surface includes electrical contact pads electrically connected with the integrated circuit. The f |
| 7340017 |
System and method for finger management in a rake receiver |
March 4, 2008 |
| In a RAKE receiver capable of detecting and combining a plurality of multipath signals, a controller for managing the assignment of the plurality of multipath signals to fingers of the RAKE receiver. The controller determines a phase difference between a selected multipath signal and |
| 7339835 |
Non-volatile memory structure and erase method with floating gate voltage control |
March 4, 2008 |
| Feedback between the floating gate voltage and a high erase voltage is utilized in the erase operation of a non-volatile memory (NVM) cell. Erasing stops when the floating gate voltage reaches the threshold voltage of the controlling transistor, making the variability of the NVM cell |
| 7339410 |
Method and system for providing startup delay |
March 4, 2008 |
| A method and system for providing startup delay is disclosed. The system includes a startup delay circuit. The startup delay circuit includes a signal generating sub-circuit that generates an output signal. The signal generating sub-circuit generates the output signal after a period of t |
| 7338840 |
Method of forming a semiconductor die with heat and electrical pipes |
March 4, 2008 |
| Thermal hot spots in the substrate of a semiconductor die, and the required surface area of the semiconductor die, are substantially reduced by forming thermal or thermal and electrical pipes in the substrate that extend from a bottom surface of the substrate to a point near the top |
| 7336938 |
Phase-alternating mixer with alias and harmonic rejection |
February 26, 2008 |
| Rejection of local oscillator alias response is provided in a mixing circuit by (1) a switching mixer producing an output that changes at least twice between two states (e.g., high-low-high or low-high-low) during each local oscillator period, and (2) a charge integrator integrating |
| 7336464 |
Power limiting circuit |
February 26, 2008 |
| A power limiting circuit is disclosed. The power limiting circuit includes a temperature sensing circuit that outputs a temperature signal that is proportional to temperature over a temperature range. The power limiting circuit also includes a regulation circuit coupled to the temperatur |
| 7336268 |
Point-to-point display system having configurable connections |
February 26, 2008 |
| An exemplary point-to-point display system comprises a host system, a timing controller, and a display. The host system is configured to provide data for display. The timing controller is configurable to provide data swapping, bus swapping, bit swapping, and combinations thereof to p |
