Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for current steering digital-to-analog converter units

US5892471A · kind A · utility

6Cited by
1References
22Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 14, 1997
Grant dateApr 6, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 14, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03M1/742
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A metal-oxide-semiconductor digital-to-analog converter unit includes a multiplicity of current mirror components 20 in a symmetric array, a resistance network activated by voltage sources providing weighted biasing potentials for the current mirror components, and an electrical coupling of the current mirror components to compensate for variations physical properties across converter unit substrate area. The current mirror components 20 include a current steering portion 21.sub.0 -21.sub.N-1 and 25.sub.0 -25.sub.N-1 coupled to an annular bias transistor 22. The resulting digital-to-analog converter has improved performance characteristics when compared to previously implemented digital-to-analog converter units.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.