Output buffer with controlled output level

Abstract: An output buffer with a controlled high logic state prevents the output voltage from increasing when the supply voltage, Vcc, increases. A fast low-to-high logic transition is achieved by using a pumping circuit (104) to improve the low-to-high transition rate. However, when the Vcc voltage rises past a threshold value, the pumping circuit (104) will only be enabled during a portion of the transition time. This prevents the output level from increasing beyond its nominal value. Because the output voltage is controlled, the high-to-low transition time is reduced and the ground bounce or noise generated by the output signal is minimized.

Description: This invention relates generally to output buffers in electrical circuits and specifically to controlling the output voltage level in such a buffer. Output buffers, or drivers, are commonly used in digital circuits to provide a means for generating one of two voltage levels. Typically, the voltage levels correspond to logic levels such as zero and one, or, analogously, low and high. When the output buffer is implemented in metal oxide semiconductor ("MOS") process technology, the output driver circuit is commonly comprised of two transistors connected between ground and the circuit supply voltage, Vcc. The output signal is taken from a point on the connection between the two transistors called the output node. The transistor connected between the output node and Vcc will "pull" the output node voltage high when switched on. The second transistor, connected between the output node and ground, pulls the output node low when turned on. Thus, the output node can be set to output a high voltage, Vcc, or a low voltage, ground. An output buffer must usually output a large current, switch between voltage levels quickly and maintain a low level of electrical noise generation. A large output current may be necessary to meet the input requirements of another circuit which uses the signal from the output buffer. Fast switching times are essential in high-speed digital circuits and noise suppression is always desired, especially when the digital circuit is fabricated as a microcircuit on the substrate of a chip with a high density of components. However, designing an output buffer with the above characteristics is difficult, since the characteristics are interdependent and an improvement of one characteristic is usually at the expense of another characteristic. For example, increasing the current output generally requires the use of larger components on the chip substrate. This creates larger parasitic capacitances which slow down the switching speed. Also, the faster that a signal is switched and the greater the current that is switched, the greater will be the noise generated by the output buffer. This increased noise can interfere with the functioning of other components. The trends toward denser packing of components on a substrate in a microcircuit makes noise reduction or suppression especially important in output buffer designs. One form of unwanted noise generated by an output buffer is known as "ground bounce." This occurs when an output buffer switches its output node from the high voltage level to the low voltage level. During the switching, a transient ground current is generated which causes the ground line to oscillate momentarily. The magnitude of the ground bounce is larger when the voltage switching range increases or when the output current of the buffer is larger. Since the ground line, or ground plane, is shared by many devices either on a chip substrate or on a circuit board, the ground bounce, if large enough, could cause a chip or circuit to malfunction. The problem of ground bounce becomes magnified when it is desired to operate several output buffers with a common ground plane. As an example, when several output buffers with a common ground plane happen to switch simultaneously, the resulting transient current generated in the ground plane will be on the order of tens of milliamps where the switching speed is on the order of nanoseconds. This can translate to a ground bounce voltage of two or more volts seen by other devices attached to the ground plane. This voltage may be above the threshold for a logic high level and would result in an error in the logic of the chip or circuit. Presently, the problem of ground bounce is critical in the design of faster MOS devices. One way to minimize ground bounce is to prevent the high logic level from going too high. This reduces the voltage "swing" from a high to low output voltages and reduces the voltage "spike" caused by a voltage transition through a capacitive load which creates ground bounce. For example, in a circuit where the supply voltage, Vcc, is 5 volts, a high logic level in the range of 2.5 to 3.5 volts may be desired. For various reasons, e.g., a loosely regulated power supply or power surges on the supply line, Vcc may increase briefly. Since an output buffer's logic high output level is derived from Vcc, a rise in Vcc would mean a rise in the high logic level being output by the buffer. Thus, when the output buffer attempts to swing from a high to a low transition (low being ground or zero volts), the high voltage level may be elevated above the 2.5 to 3.5 volt range requiring the output buffer to provide a larger voltage swing to achieve the high to low transition. This increased voltage swing results in a larger amplitude of ground bounce. Therefore, it is desired to control or regulate the voltage level of the output buffer so that the logic high output voltage will not be increased with an increase in Vcc. A further problem in regulating or controlling the maximum output voltage for a high logic state in an output buffer is that the "rise time," or transition time in going from a low logic state to a high logic state, must be kept as short as possible. This means that the circuit which regulates or controls the output voltage must not degrade the rise time of the output buffer in switching between a low to a high logic state. A voltage control circuit will also be required to maintain a constant and sufficiently uniform logic high state over a period of time. GB-A-2246885 discusses an output buffer known in the prior art. The circuit disclosed comprises: an output node; driving means coupled to the output node for changing the voltage at the output node from a first voltage level to a second voltage level where the second voltage level is higher than the first voltage level; voltage supply means coupled to the driving means for providing a supply voltage to the driving means where the driving means is arranged to derive the second voltage at the output node from the supply voltage; pumping means coupled to the driving means for increasing the rate of change of the voltage at the output node and pumping enabling means coupled to the pumping means for selectively enabling and disabling the pumping means. Below a predetermined supply voltage level, the operating speed is improved by operating the pumping means to increase the rate of change of the voltage at the output node when the supply voltage rises above a predetermined level the pumping means is disabled to avoid problems of ground bounce. The present invention provides a circuit for improving the output signal in an output buffer. The invention comprises a circuit which achieves a fast rise time and a fast fall time with a suitable current output while minimizing ground bounce. The circuit allows a high logic level to be output by an output buffer at a sufficiently high voltage for an extended period of time. The voltage level of the high logic level is controlled so that the effect of changes in the voltage power supply, Vcc, to the high logic level are reduced. This insures that the high-to-low voltage transition time, or fall time, will not be excessively increased. In order to achieve a fast rise time, a "pumping" circuit is used which increases the charge available to the output buffer for switching the output node from low to high. In normal operations the use of the pumping circuit results in a fast rise time and the resulting voltage on the output node will be Vcc. However, when the Vcc value rises, a Vcc detector circuit generates a signal which will enable the pumping circuit only during a portion of the transition from a logic low to a logic high. That is, the pumping circuit is disabled during a latter part of the rise time when Vcc is higher than desired. This prevents the output node of the driver from attaining an undesirably high voltage level. The voltage control circuit of the present invention monitors both the voltage supply, Vcc, and the output node voltage, Voh, of the output buffer or driver. A Voh detector circuit generates a signal when the output voltage rises to a certain threshold. The threshold is between the low and high logic states, e.g., zero and 3.5 volts, respectively, at about 2.7 volts. The pumping circuit is disabled when both a high Vcc exists and Voh rises to a threshold e.g. 2.7 volts during the course of switching the output node from a low to a high state. Preferably, one or more "keeper" circuits are used to maintain the increased charge available to the output buffer while the pumping circuit is activated over an extended period of time. Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the circuit of the invention; Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a subcircuit of the preferred embodiment which generates signal DETVCC used as an input to the circuit of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a subcircuit illustrated in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a timing diagram of some of the signals in Figures 2, 3 and 4; Fig. 6 is an illustration of some of the signal waveforms generated by a computer simulation of the circuit of Fig. 2; Fig. 7 is an example of a circuit to generate VREF; and Fig. 8 is an example of a circuit to generate VINT. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Fig. 1 is a system level block diagram of the Voh output controller circuit of one embodiment of the present invention. Note that Fig. 1 is a simplified diagram for illustrative purposes only. The subsystems and signal routings are simplified and in some cases signals and subsystems have been omitted. Fig. 1 is intended only to provide an introduction and overview of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 shows controller circuit 100 comprised of output driver 102, pumping circuit 104, Voh detector 106, and Vcc detector 108. These circuits are subsystems of Voh controller circuit 100 and will be described in reference to Figures 2, 3 and 4. Output driver 102 of Fig. 1 is typically implemented as a pair of transistors connected between ground and Vcc. Thus, output driver 102 can pull output node 110 to either Vcc or to ground. Output node 110 can be connected to the input of additional circuits. In a preferred embodiment, Voh controller circuit 100 is used to control the output of a buffer used in a 128K by 8 video random access memory ("VRAM"). However, the circuit to be disclosed has many other applications in that it may be used whenever a controlled output signal is desired in order to decrease the noise generated by the output driver. The voltage at output node 110 is designated Voh. Voh is one of two signals supplied to Voh detector 106. The second input to Voh detector 106 is an output from Vcc detector 108. Vcc detector 108 monitors the Vcc supply level input at 118. Vcc detector 108 will output a signal at output 116 if the Vcc voltage rises above a certain predetermined threshold. Since Vcc is also supplied to output driver 102 at connection 119, the Vcc level may adversely affect the output voltage Voh if Vcc rises to high. To prevent Voh from being adversely affected, Voh detector 106 will output a signal at connection 114 to pumping circuit 104 when two conditions occur. These conditions are (1) Vcc detector 108 indicates that the Vcc level has risen and (2) the Voh detector 106 determines that the output voltage at Voh has reached a certain threshold. The occurence of a signal at 114 from Voh detector 106 to pumping circuit 104 causes the pumping circuit to stop pumping the output driver 102. The result of this is that Voh is prevented from rising higher than is desired. This reduces the noise generated by the circuit, in particular the effect of ground bounce, when Voh is later switched from a high to a low voltage level. Inputs to pumping circuit 104 include VINT at 120, Memory Cell Output Data at 122 and various Memory Cell Control Signals at 124. VINT is an internal voltage derived from Vcc by a well-known circuit not shown in the Figures. VINT is generated to be less than Vcc when Vcc is above a predetermined threshold. VINT is used by the pumping circuit 104 to supply a suitably regulated voltage to the output driver which prevents Voh from rising too high. In the preferred embodiment, Voh represents data from a memory cell which is input to the circuit 100 at 122. The outputing of the memory cell data is controlled by the Memory Cell Control Signals at 124. The table below shows the names and descriptions of signals in Figures 2, 3 and 4. Signal Name Description VINT Follows Vcc if Vcc ≤ 4.5 volts and is about 1 volt less than Vcc if Vcc >4.5 volts. DETVCC High if Vcc > 4.5 volts. PIMSH Memory Control Master Signal. PISRDE Memory Control Serial Read Enable. PISOE Memory Control Serial Output Enable. SDBI Memory Output Data SDBIB Complement of SDBI OSC Oscillator Signal -- 500 nanosecond period. OSCB Complement of OSC. The logic and signals of the circuit of the embodiment of the present invention will now be discussed in connection with Figures 2, 3 and 4. Fig. 2 shows a schematic of the Voh control circuit 200 of one embodiment of the present invention. Subcircuit 202 is a predriver and latch, whose function may be implemented by means commonly known in the art. The input to predriver and latch subcircuit 202 are signal SDBI 204 and SDBIB 206. SDBI is a digital data signal indicating either a logic low or high level to be output by the Voh control circuit 200. SDBIB is the complement of signal SDBI; that is, when SDBI is high, SDBIB will be low and vice versa. The two NOR gates and two inverters at 208 of predriver and latch 202 comprise a buffering and set-reset (SR) latching means for input signals SDBI and SDBIB. The characteristics of an SR latch are well known in the art. It is sufficient to note that since SDBI and SDBIB are complementary signals, that the signal at the output of NOR gate 210 will always be the complement of signal SDBI and that the signal at the output of NOR gate 212 will always be the same as signal SDBI. Assuming of course sufficient time has elapsed from any transition in signal SDBI to allow for gate delays. Signal PISOE is an output enable signal which, when high, allows the state of data signal SDBI to be output at lines 264, 266 and 267. The three NAND gates at 214 allow signal PISOE 216 to enable or disable the outputs of the predriver and latch 202. NAND gates 218, 220 and 222 will each pass the compliment of their second inputs to their outputs when first input PISOE is high. When PISOE is low, the outputs of NAND gates 218, 220 and 222 will all be high. Thus, when PISOE is low, the outputs of predriver and latch 202 are disabled. When PISOE is high, the outputs of predriver and latch 202 are enabled. The output of NAND gate 222 is connected by 223 to the internal keeper subcircuit 270 to be described below. The output of NAND gate 222 is also connected to the input of inverter 224. Inverter 224 is sourced by current through resistor 226. The combination of inverter 224 and resistor 226 provides a driver for the output of NAND gate 222 to insure that sufficient current is output to transistor 228 of driver subcircuit 230. This is to insure that transistor 228 is turned on sufficiently "hard" to cause output node Voh to be brought quickly to a ground potential of zero volts. The outputs of NAND gates 218 and 220 are connected to transistors 432 and 434, respectively. Since both NAND gate 218 and NAND gate 220 are connected to the output of NOR gate 212, their output signals will be the same (assuming PISOE is high, enabling the NAND gates). Since transistor 432 is a p-type transistor and transistor 434 is an n-type transistor, only one of transistors 432 and 434 will be on and the other will be off. Transistor 432 will pull the signal to transistor 236 high. This will be explained in more detail in conjunction with the descriptions of the pumping circuit. Transistor 434, when on, will pull transistor 236 of driver 230, low. By tracing the logic in the predriver and latch 202, it is evident that when SDBI is high the outputs of NAND gates 218 and 220, assuming PISOE is high, will be low. That will mean that transistor 432 is on and transistor 434 is off. Consequently, the signal at the gate of transistor 236 will be high, which will mean transistor 236 will be pulling Voh high. Thus, it is seen that a logic level at SDBI is reflected at the output node whose voltage is Voh. That is, when SDBI is low Voh will be low and when SDBI is high Voh will be high. The following paragraphs discuss the Voh detector subcircuit 240 of Fig. 2. Voh detector subcircuit 240 will output a logic high signal at 242 when Voh rises above a threshold voltage level and when signal DETVCC 244 is simultaneously high. DETVCC is connected to the gate of p-channel transistor 244. As shown in Fig. 2, when DETVCC is low, transistor 244 will be on. This will place a logic high at the input to inverter 246. Consequently, the output of inverter 246 will be low. Thus, the output 242 of Voh detector 240 will always be low when DETVCC is low. When DETVCC is high, transistor 244 will be off and transistor 248 will be on. Assuming Voh is low, transistor 250 will be off and transistor 252 will be on. This means that the input to inverter 246 will be pulled high through resistor 254 and transistor 252. The output of inverter 246, that is, signal 242, will be low as long as the voltage at Voh remains low. As the voltage at Voh increases past the threshold level for transistors 250 and 252 (about 2.7 volts), transistor 250 will turn on and transistor 252 will turn off. This results in the inputs to inverter 246 being pulled to ground through transistors 248 and 250. Resistor 254 is used to stabilize the threshold point of the Voh detector circuit from being affected by Vcc variations. When Voh rises to about 2.7 volts the output of inverter 246, that is signal 242, will go high as an indication that DETVCC is high and that Voh has passed the threshold voltage. Fig. 3 shows a schematic of detector circuit 300 which generates the signal DETVCC used in the Voh detector subcircuit 240 described above. Detector circuit 300 is biased by a reference voltage VREF. As long as Vcc is less than about 4.5 volts, signal DETVCC will stay low. At higher Vcc voltages signal DETVCC will be high. The signal VREF is a reference voltage which may be generated by means commonly known in the art as, for example, by diode circuit 700 illustrated in Fig. 7. In the preferred embodiment, VREF has a value of between 1.35 to 1.45 volts. Transistors at 304 of detector circuit 300 are an inverter whose trip point varies according to a variation in Vcc applied at node 306. Transistors 308 are N-type MOS transistors which provide a voltage drop from Vcc and establish the trip point for the inverter to which VREF is an input. With the arrangement as shown and with VREF at 1.35 to 1.45 volts, the trip point for a Vcc increase will be in the range of between 4.5 volts to 5.0 volts. For example, assuming Vcc to be at 4.5 volts, the voltage drop across transistors 308 will result in a voltage of 3.7 volts at node 312. Assuming VREF to be at 1.40 volts, P-type transistors 314 with longer channel length will be off while N-type transistors 316 will be turned on, as will N-type transistors 318, resulting in the signal at 310 being pulled to ground by transistors 318 and 316. P-type transistors 314 have a longer channel length to provide more resistance for the calibrated voltage divider network of transistors 308, 314, 318 and 316. As Vcc increases, the voltage at 312 will also increase. When Vcc reaches about 4.5 volts, transistors 314 will conduct and transistors 316 will be turned off. Thus, the signal at 310 will be pulled high through transistors 308 and 314 indicating that Vcc has risen through the trip point of about 4.5 volts. Transistor 322 is a hysteresis transistor to provide noise immunity. Transistors at 320 and inverters 324 provide for buffering and driving the signal at 310. The circuit components at 326 implement several resistive-capacitive (RC) delay stages for further noise immunity by allowing voltage spikes on Vcc to be transmitted to power or ground through capacitive coupling. Finally, inverters at 328 provide additional buffering and current driving for signal DETVCC. To summarize the circuit of Fig. 3, DETVCC will only be high when Vcc exceeds a predetermined threshold of about 4.5 volts. The following paragraphs describe the functioning of the pumping subcircuit 400 of Figure 4. Figure 4 is an enlarged illustration of the subcircuit 400 of Fig. 2. Identically numbered components in Fig. 4 correspond to their identically numbered components in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 will be discussed in conjunction with Fig. 5 which is a timing diagram of some of the signals in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 also includes signals from Figs. 2 and 3. As explained previously in reference to Fig. 2, transistors 432 and 434 of Fig. 4 serve to pull the voltage at line 402 high or low. Line 402 is connected to the pull up transistor 236 of the driver circuit of Fig. 2. Transistor 236 of the driver circuit of Fig. 2 is an N-type MOS transistor. Thus, the greater the voltage at 402, the more quickly or "harder" that transistor 236 is turned on which causes V oh to transition to a positive voltage more quickly. Note that the preferred embodiment of the present invention is implemented in MOS transistor technology. Thus, discussion of the "pumping" effect on transistor 236 is in terms of an increased or decreased voltage at the gate, the gate being connected to line 402 of Fig. 2. However, other transistor technologies such as "bipolar" may be used to implement the present invention. In bipolar technologies it is the magnitude of the current applied to the base which determines how hard the pull-up transistor will be turned on which in turn determines the rise time or low-to-high transition speed of the signal at V oh . The present invention is understood to apply to any transistor technology or logic family where a voltage at an output node such as V oh can be made to transition more rapidly from a low logic state to a high logic state by increasing the charge applied to the driver subcircuit. By increasing the charge, it is meant that either the voltage or current to the driver subcircuit is increased, depending on the technology being used. Also, the driver subcircuit 230 may be implemented in a variety of designs known in the art. In some driver designs, increasing the current or voltage may result in a slowing down of the rise time of Voh. The present invention is understood to include all such designs where a variance in the voltage or current output by the pumping circuit can be used to control the rise time of the output node of the driver subcircuit. In normal operation signal DETVCC will be low indicating that Vcc is within normal operating range; that is, Vcc is below 4.5 volts. As discussed above, when DETVCC is low, the signal at 242 will also be low. Since line 242 is connected to the gate of p-type transistor 440, transistor 440 will be turned on. It will be recalled that lines 264 and 266 of Fig. 4 are the inverse of signal SDBI 204 which is the data being output to the driver subcircuit 240. When SDBI is low, lines 264 and 266 will be high. This will mean that transistor 432 is off and transistor 434 is on; hence, line 402 will be pulled low and the pull up transistor of the driver subcircuit shown in Fig. 2 will be off. Thus, the pumping circuit of Fig. 4 does not affect the driver subcircuit when the data being output, SDBI, is a logic low. Assuming, still, that DETVCC is low, and hence line 242 is low and transistor 440 is on, then, when SDBI goes high, lines 264 and 266 will go low. This means that transistor 432 of Fig. 4 is on and transistor 434 is off. Fig. 5 shows the timing relationship between signals in the circuit of Fig. 4. Signals PIMSH, PISRDE and PISOE are control signals for the memory chip of the preferred embodiment which correspond to Master Signal, Serial Read Enable and Output Enable respectively. As long as PISOE is low, the signals at lines 264 and 266 will be high (as explained above in reference to the predriver and latch subcircuit 202). This means that as long as PISOE is low, transistor 434 of Fig. 4 will be on and transistor 432 of Fig. 4 will be off so that the voltage at 402 will be pulled to ground. Since line 402 is connected to the gate of the pull up transistor for the output driver 230, the pull up transistor 236. Thus, as long as PISOE is low, the pumping circuit of Fig. 4 has no effect on driver subcircuit 230 save to keep the pull-up transistor 236 of the output driver off. Prior to PISOE going high the effect of signals PIMSH and PISRDE being low is to precharge capacitors 412 and 421 of Fig. 4 as explained below. In the discussion below, it is assumed that DETVCC is low indicating that the Vcc voltage is at 4.5 volts. In other words, Vcc has not risen above its threshold value and the Vcc detector circuit 300 of Fig. 3 is outputing a low voltage for signal DETVCC. At time t 0 of Fig. 5, PIMSH is low. Referring to Fig. 4, this means that the output of NAND gate 444 will be high and that the output of inverter 446 will be low. Since PISOE is low, the transistor 448 will pass the low voltage output from inverter 446 to one end of capacitor 412. The other end of capacitor 412 is connected to VINT through transistor 442. As mentioned, VINT will track Vcc as long as Vcc is 4.5 volts or below. Still assuming Vcc to be 4.5 volts, VINT will also be 4.5 volts. This means that the voltage seen at the right side of capacitor 412 will be VINT minus a diode drop across transistor 442 of 0.7 volts. Thus, the voltage applied across capacitor 412 of Fig. 4 at time t 0 of Fig. 5 is approximately VINT minus 0.7 volts. At time t 1 signal PIMSH goes high. Since at time t 1 PISRDE is still low, the output of inverter 450 will be high which means that both inputs to NAND gate 444 will be high and NAND gate 444 will output a logic low. Inverter 446 then outputs logic high. Signal PISOE remains low at time t 1 so that transistor 448 is on and a logic high is applied to the left side of capacitor 412. This effectively "pumps" capacitor 412 so that the voltage at the right-side of capacitor 412 is approximately Vcc (logic high) plus one-half VINT. The full voltage of (Vcc + V1 - 0.7) volts is not realized across capacitor 412 because the characteristics of the capacitor limit the capacitive coupling to something less than 100%. However, the voltage across pumped capacitor 412 is sufficient to turn the gate of transistor 417 on "hard." Because of the high input impedance between the gate and drain of transistor 417, this pumping voltage will remain present without diminishing for some time. Typically, this voltage will remain at substantially its initial value for at least 500 nanoseconds (nS). If it is necessary to maintain a pumping voltage at the gate of transistor 417 for longer periods, a keeper subcircuit 270 shown in Fig. 2 is employed which maintains the higher voltage on line 238 of Fig. 4. Keeper subcircuit 270 is an example of a design which may be used. Other designs are commonly known in the art. Signals OSC 710 and OSCB 712 are essentially square wave oscillator signals with a period of about 500 nS. OSCB is the complement of OSC. Briefly, the keeper circuit operates by alternately pumping capacitors 714 and 716 and applying the pumped voltage to the signal line 238 through transistor 718. Each capacitor is alternately precharged for one half-cycle then pumped and applied to line 238 for the next half-cycle. While one capacitor is being precharged the other is pumped and applied. Note that the precharge circuit is only active when the data being output is a logic high and when the Voh detector has determined that Voh is above the 2.7 volt threshold and Vcc is above 4.5 volts. This is because of the signals at transistors 720 and 722 which are output from the predriver subcircuit 202 and the Voh detector subcircuit 240 and which effectively act to enable or disable the keeper subcircuit 270. While transistor 417 is on, the voltage VINT, still at 4.5 volts in the present example, is applied to the drain of transistor 432. VINT is also applied to the right-side of capacitor 421. At time t 1 the output enable signal PISOE is low which means that transistor 448 is applied with a low voltage at its gate and is on. Thus, the left-side of capacitor 421 is pulled to 0 volts. Thus, capacitor 421 has a voltage of approximately 4.5 volts across it in its so-called "precharged" state at time t 1 . At time t 2 signal PISRDE goes high. This causes the output of inverter 450 to go low, the output of NAND gate 444 to go high and the output of inverter 446 to go low. As PISOE is still low, the left-side of capacitor 412 is again brought to ground voltage. Thus, capacitor 412 is once again in its precharged state with a voltage of about VINT minus 0.7 volts across it. At time t 3 signal PISOE goes high. Recalling again that we are attempting to output a high logic state, that is SDBI is high, the signals on lines 264 and 266 will go low when PISOE goes high (refer to the predriver and latch subcircuit illustration in Fig. 2). Recalling also that since Vcc remains at 4.5 volts, signal DETVCC is low meaning that the signal on line 242 is low. This results in transistor 440 being on. The signal at 264 is low since SDBI is high which means transistor 452 is on. VINT is passed through transistors 440 and 452 to the left-side of capacitor 421. Capacitor 421 has been precharged to approximately VINT volts as described above. Thus, the application of VINT to the left-side of capacitor 421 results in a pumped charge on the right side of capacitor 421 of approximately 1.5 times VINT. Due to the characteristics of the capacitor, the pumped voltage realized is somewhat less then the ideal value of 2 times VINT and is approximately 1.5 times VINT. The pumped voltage from capacitor 421 is applied to the gate of transistor 236 through transistor 432 because line 264 is low. This pumped voltage is applied for as long as data signal SDBI is high and signal PISOE is enabled. After about 500 nS an external keeper circuit (not shown) will maintain the pumped voltage to the gate of transistor 236. The design and operation of such a keeper circuit is well known in the art and any of a variety of suitable designs may be employed. In the preferred embodiment, the keeper circuit is external to the circuit shown in Figures 2 and 3. The voltage at Voh will be dependent on Vcc but will be somewhat less than Vcc. This is partly due to the threshold voltage drop across transistor 236 but more largely due to the loading of the signal Voh by the input circuit (not shown) which Voh is driving. Typically, Voh will attain a value of about 3.3 volts maximum while Vcc is about 4.5 volts and transistor236 is applied with the pumped voltage from capacitor 421. While transistor 236 is on, capacitor 412 is being precharged for the next cycle. The left side of capacitor 412 (Fig. 4) is low since line 264 is low (SDBI is high) and is applied to capacitor 412 through transistor 468 (PISOE is high) and transistor 450 (DETVCC is low). At time t 4 on Fig. 5 SDBI goes low so the signal on line 264 of Fig. 4 goes high. This pumps capacitor 412 once again through transistors 450 and 468 and the pumping circuit behaves as described above when capacitor 412 was first pumped by the high level output from inverter 444 through transistor 448. At time t 5 SDBI goes high and the pumping cycle of capacitor 421 proceeds as discussed above. Thus, the pumping circuit of Fig. 4 will operate through multiple transitions of SDBI while signals PIMSH, PISRDE and PISOE are high to pump transistor 236 when SDBI transitions from a low to high logic level as shown in Fig. 5 at t 5 and t 7 . From the foregoing explanation it is apparent that in normal operations when Vcc does not exceed 4.5 volts, the pumping circuit 400 of Fig. 4 will apply a voltage to the pull-up transistor 236 of about 1.5 times Vcc when the output voltage switches from a low to high logic level. This pump voltage increases the speed at which the output V oh changes logic states and raises the maximum voltage that V oh attains. Also, when it is desired to transition from a high to a low logic level, the pumping circuit 400 of Fig. 4 simply acts to turn off the pull-up transistor 236 of the driver circuit 230 regardless of the value of Vcc. The following paragraphs explain the operation of this embodiment of the invention where Vcc has risen above its ideal value of 4.5 volts. In this case, it is desirable not to apply the pumping voltage for as long a time to the gate of transistor 236. This is because the driver subcircuit 230 uses the Vcc supply at node 270 as shown in Fig. 4 to generate the voltage level for the high logic state at V oh . Therefore, when Vcc rises, the driver subcircuit 230 will tend to output a higher voltage for a high logic state at V oh . This is undesirable because it causes a larger voltage swing in going from a high to a low logic-state transition. This larger voltage swing results in a longer fall time in order to achieve a low logic state from a high logic state. Also, increased noise in the form of "ground bounce" is generated. To compensate for an increase in Vcc, the circuit of the present invention regulates or controls the amount of pumping voltage applied to the gate of transistor 236. The circuit of this embodiment of the present invention monitors two voltage signals. The first being Vcc and the second being the output voltage itself, V oh . Under a condition of an elevated Vcc, that is Vcc greater than 4.5 volts, the circuit of this embodiment of the present invention monitors V oh and detects when V oh rises to a value of 2.7 volts. When V oh reaches 2.7 volts, the pumping circuit is inhibited or disabled so that an elevated voltage is no longer applied to the gate of transistor 236. This compensates for the elevated Vcc and prevents V oh from rising as high as it would have were the pumping circuit allowed to operate without being disabled. The circuit of Fig. 4 will now be discussed in conjunction with the timing diagram of Fig. 5 with the assumption that Vcc has risen above 4.5 volts. Referring to Fig. 4, if Vcc is greater than 4.5 volts, the signal DETVCC from the Vcc detector circuit 300 of Fig. 3 will be high. Also, the signal on line 242 from the V oh detector subcircuit 240 of Fig. 2 will depend on the value of V oh as described in the discussion of the V oh detector circuit above. When V oh rises to 2.7 volts, the signal at 242 will transition from a logic low to a logic high. Referring to Fig. 5, the transition from low to high of the logic level on line 242 occurs at t 3 . Similar to the discussion above, at t 3 , the pumped voltage of 1.5 VINT is already applied from capacitor 421 through transistor 432 to the gate of transistor 236. When line 242 transitions to a high logic level, the left side of capacitor 421 is grounded through transistor 453. Thus, the drain 454 of transistor 432 is no longer supplied with a voltage of 1.5 VINT. The input of inverter 456 will be low and inverter 456's output will be high. This logic high voltage is passed through transistor 458 since its gate is low because the inputs to NAND gate 460 are DETVCC and PISOE, both high signals. Thus, a high level is applied to the left side of capacitor 412 causing a pumped voltage to be applied to the gate of transistor 417 and turning it on. Transistor 417 passes VINT to the drain 454 of transistor 432. VINT is generated to be about 1 volt less than Vcc in the case where Vcc is greater than 4.5 volts. This means that the voltage applied to the gate of transistor 236, VINT, will be somewhat less than Vcc and less than the pumped voltage on capacitor 421 in the previous case when Vcc was 4.5 volts. VINT may be generated by any means as is known by one of skill in the art. However, in the preferred embodiment, VINT is generated by the circuit shown in Fig. 8. Note that another embodiment of the present invention might not use a V oh detector subcircuit such as 240 in Fig. 2. The pumping circuit could instead be disabled a fixed amount of time after a transition from a low to a high logic state has begun. The fixed amount of time could depend on the magnitude of Vcc above a desired value, such as 4.5 volts. For example, if Vcc is between 4.5 to 5.0 volts the pumping circuit could be disabled at time t a after a low-to-high transition of SDBI begins. If Vcc is between 5.0 to 6.0 volts the pumping circuit could be disabled at time t b after a low-to-high transistion. Time t b would be less than time t a . A circuit used in place of Voh detector subcircuit 240 of Fig. 2 would generate the signal at line 242 of Fig. 3 by using any of one or more suitable signals in the circuit. In a circuit such as shown in Fig. 3, one such signal could be SDBI or SDBIB. Thus, the present invention is understood to encompass the use of any subcircuit using suitable signals for generation of the signal at line 242 of Fig. 3 to enable or disable the pumping circuit. In the preferred embodiment, as discussed above, feedback of the voltage, Voh, at the output node is used to generate the disabling signal. Transistors 462 and 464 of Fig. 4 comprise two diodes in series between capacitor 412 and VINT. This is to prevent the pumped voltage on capacitor 412 from exceeding VINT by more than two diode drops or about 1.4 volts. Transistor 466 keeps the voltage at the gate of transistor 417 from going beyond the voltage VINT. Fig. 6 is an illustration of some of the signal waveforms generated by a computer simulation of the circuit of Fig. 2. Two sets of signal waveforms are shown in Fig. 6. The first set was generated by simulating the Voh control circuit of Fig. 2 with Vcc at 6 volts so that the pumping subcircuit 400 would be disabled for part of the low-to-high transition of Voh. The signals from this first set are the controlled ground voltage signal 502, controlled drive voltage signal 518 and controlled Voh signal 514. The second set of signal waveforms was generated by using the same conditions as in the generation of the first set except that signal DETVCC of Fig. 2 was forced low so that there would be no inhibition of the pumping voltage from pumping subcircuit 400 to the output driver 230. The uncontrolled ground voltage 506, uncontrolled drive voltage 516 and uncontrolled Voh 508 are the signals in this second set. In time period 510 of Fig. 6, the behavior of controlled drive voltage 518 and uncontrolled drive voltage 516 are shown during a low-to-high transition of Voh. As can be seen, the uncontrolled drive voltage attains over seven volts while the controlled drive voltage stabilizes at slightly over four volts. This is due to the Voh control circuit disabling the pumping circuit, for the controlled case, when Voh attains about 2.7 volts. In time period 512 of Fig. 6, Voh transitions from high logic level to a low logic level. In both the controlled and uncontrolled cases this high-to-low transition of Voh causes a corresponding ground bounce. However, the ground bounce caused by this transition is lower in magnitude in the case of the controlled Voh circuit as is evident by comparing signals 502 and 506. The ground bounce for the uncontrolled Voh circuit is shown by signal 506 and is about 0.8 volts higher at its peak than the ground bounce for the uncontrolled Voh case as shown by signal 508. Note that the controlled Voh signal 506 is kept at a lower stable voltage by the Voh control circuit of this embodiment of the present invention and achieves a logic low voltage more quickly than the uncontrolled Voh signal 508. Since the ground bounce in time period 512 is lower for the controlled Voh case, there is less chance of an error caused by Voh switching from a high level to a low level when the circuit of this embodiment of the present invention is used. Note that in time period 510, where Voh goes from a low to a high level, that the ground bounce is actually greater when the circuit of this embodiment of the present invention is used. However, this is a non-critical time period in terms of the effect of ground bounce on Voh since the risk of error attributed to ground bounce is due to the ground voltage being elevated at a time when Voh being pulled to ground. Instead, at time period 510, Voh is being pulled to Vcc since transistor 236 of driver subcircuit 230 is on. Voh is isolated from the ground line or plane because transistor 228 is off. This means that the effect of ground voltage fluctuations during time period 510 has little effect on Voh. In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to a specific exemplary embodiment thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. For example, the logical relationships may be implemented by a variety of combinations of gates and transistors. These combinations may be different in structure, yet achieve the same logical relationship in regard to the electrical signals. Also, the invention may be implemented in any of various logic families or transistor technologies, as is known in the art. For example, bipolar transistors could be used with equal ease to the MOS field effect transistors as disclosed in the preferred embodiment above. The preferred embodiment is in a video random access memory device. However, the invention may be applied to a Variety of applications or devices wherever it is desired to maintain an output signal with a controlled high logic level. Many applications of the present invention are readily envisioned. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense and the invention is not intended to be limited except as indicated in the appended claims.

Claims: An apparatus for outputting an electrical signal comprising: an output node (110); driving means (102) coupled to said output node for changing a voltage (Voh) at said output node from a first voltage level to a second voltage level, where said second voltage level is higher than said first voltage level; voltage supply means (118, 119) coupled to said driving means (102) for providing a supply voltage (Vcc) to said driving means (102) wherein said driving means (102) is arranged for deriving said second voltage level at said output node (110) from said supply voltage (Vcc); pumping means (104) coupled to said driving means (102) for increasing the rate of change of said voltage (Voh) at said output node (102); and pumping enabling means (114) coupled to said pumping means (104) for selectively enabling and disabling said pumping means (104); characterised in that: said pumping enabling means (114) is responsive both to the supply voltage level (Vcc) and to the output node voltage level (Voh) for selectively enabling and disabling said pumping means (104), whereby the pumping means is only disabled when both the voltage supply level and the output voltage rise above predetermined thresholds. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a keeper circuit (270) for maintaining an increased charge available to said driving means (102) while said pumping means (104) is activated for an extended period of time. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 further comprising supply voltage detection means (108, 116), coupled to the voltage supply means (118), for outputting a first threshold signal when the supply voltage (Vcc) rises above a first predetermined threshold; signal generation means (106, 112) coupled to the output node (110) and the pumping control means (104) for outputting a second threshold signal when the output node voltage (Voh) rises above a second predetermined threshold; and wherein said pumping enabling means (114) is adapted to disable the pumping means when the first and second threshold signals are simultaneously present. An apparatus in accordance with claim 3, further comprising means for selectively enabling and disabling said signal generation means (106, 112) and wherein said signal generation means (106, 112) is only enabled when said supply voltage exceeds a predetermined threshold. An apparatus in accordance with any of the preceding claims 1 or 3 or 4, wherein the driving means (102) comprises a transistor coupled (236) between the voltage supply means (118) and the output node (110) so that when the transistor (236) is turned on current flows between the voltage supply means (118) and the output node (110); and a gate signal output (402) from the pumping means to the transistor for applying a charge to the transistor (236) to turn the transistor on, the magnitude of current flowing from the voltage supply means (118) to the output node varying in response to the amount of charge applied to the transistor (236) through the gate signal output (402). An apparatus in accordance with claim 5 further comprising keeper means (270) coupled to the pumping means and the gate signal output (402) for maintaining the charge applied to the transistor (236) over an extended period of time. An apparatus in accordance with claim 5 or 6 where the first predetermined threshold is about 4.5 volts and where the second predetermined threshold is about 2.7 volts. An apparatus in accordance with claim 5, 6 or 7 where the pumping means increases the current applied to the transistor (236) through the gate signal output (402). An apparatus in accordance with claim 5, 6 or 7, where the pumping means increases the voltage applied to the transistor (236) through the gate signal output (402). An apparatus in accordance with any of claims 5 to 9, wherein the pumping circuit comprises: internal voltage supply means (258) for supplying an internal voltage signal (VINT) which is substantially equal to said supply voltage (Vcc) when said first threshold signal is not present and is below said supply voltage (Vcc) when said first threshold signal is present; a first transistor (432) coupled between the gate signal output (402) and a pumping capacitor (421) for selectively applying the charge on said pumping capacitor (421) to the transistor (236) via said gate signal output (402); and a second transistor (417) coupled between said first transistor (432) and said internal voltage signal supply means (258) for selectively applying said internal voltage signal (VINT) to the transistor (236) via the first transistor (432) and gate signal output (402), the second transistor being on when both the first and second threshold signals are present.

Inventors: LIN CHANG MING, TE SINTIAT, LIN, CHANG/MING, TE, SINTIAT
Applicants: SAMSUNG SEMICONDUCTOR INC, SAMSUNG SEMICONDUCTOR, INC.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: H03K19
IPC codes: H03K17, H03K19, G06F3, G11C11, G11C7