Patent ID: 6215349
Filing Date: 2001-04-10
Classification: G11C,H03K

Abstract:
A driver circuit comprising:a driver subcircuit having a p-type driver transistor, wherein the driver transistor comprises first, second, and gate terminals, the first terminal coupled to a first power source, the second terminal coupled to an output of the driver subcircuit, and the gate terminal coupled to an input of the driver subcircuit, the driver circuit activated by an active low driver input signal at the input of the driver subcircuit; andan overdrive subscircuit comprisinga first transistor with first, second, and gate terminals, the gate terminal of the first transistor is coupled to a control input for receiving a control signal, and the second terminal of the first transistor is coupled to the output of the overdrive subcircuit which is coupled to the input of the driver subcircuit anda capacitor with first and second terminals, the first terminal of the capacitor is coupled to the gate terminal of the first transistor and the second terminal of the capacitor is coupled to the second terminal of the first transistor, wherein the overdrive circuit, when receiving an active control signal at the control input, generates a negative offset which increases the magnitude of the active low driver signal to increase the performance of the driver subcircuit.