Patent · US Expired

Low skew differential receiver with disable feature

US6256234A · kind A · utility

213Cited by
72References
34Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 23, 2000
Grant dateJul 3, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 23, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03K19/00384
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A differential clock receiver for a SynchLink-type Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SLDRAM) includes a differential amplifier with a novel method for biasing its NMOS and PMOS current sources. A differential clock received and amplified by the differential amplifier switches a set of multiplexers, which respond by outputting a differential output clock. The multiplexers can be "disabled" by an inactive enable signal so they output a constant "0" level for the differential output clock. This disabling feature of the differential clock receiver is particularly useful with the intermittent data clocks found in SLDRAMs. Also, the novel biasing method for the current sources of the differential amplifier gives the clock receiver very low skew.

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