Patent Description:
In semiconductor devices, providing a stable reference voltage via a voltage generator on an integrated circuit (IC) is important. For example, such circuits benefiting from provision of a stable reference voltage are used in connection with, among others, data conversion, analog processing devices, electronic sensors, and many digital and/or mixed signal applications. Many of these circuit types use voltage generators that are specified to be stable over manufacturing process variations, supply voltage variations, and operating (and extended) temperature variations. Such voltage generators can be implemented without modifications of conventional manufacturing processes and while many improvements in these regards have been realized, voltage generator circuits continue to be benefited by improvements in terms of the above-noted issues as well as other circuit design issues such as component count, packaging stresses, speed/power efficiencies and IC space.

These and other matters have presented challenges to accuracies of implementations involving Zener-based voltage reference circuits, for a variety of applications.

<CIT> discloses an integrated circuit includes a voltage reference circuit including a Zener diode. <CIT> discloses circuits and a method for providing voltage reference circuits that include low drift over time and lower operating voltages. <NPL>, provides a description of circuit techniques employed to produce a monolithic three-voltage voltage-regulator.

The invention is as defined in independent system claim <NUM> and independent method claim <NUM>.

Various example embodiments are directed to issues such as those addressed above and/or others which may become apparent from the following disclosure concerning a voltage reference circuit to provide a reference voltage derived from or based on a Zener diode circuit.

Aspects of the present disclosure involve compensation for voltage drift due to circuit components being influenced, for example, by changes in temperature.

In the embodiments, an apparatus includes a Zener diode circuit, a voltage reduction circuit, and a proportional-to-absolute temperature (PTAT) circuit. The Zener diode circuit is coupled between a first supply terminal (VDD) and a second supply terminal (common) and is to provide an input reference voltage level. The voltage reduction circuit is to provide a reduced level of the input reference voltage level. The PTAT circuit includes a differential circuit having first and second differential paths to provide an output drive current and an output reference voltage at an output node of the PTAT circuit, having a feedback path from the output node to control the differential circuit.

In the embodiments, the voltage reduction circuit may include a voltage divider circuit having a first resistive circuit connected to a first input node and a second resistive circuit connected to the first input node.

In the embodiments, one of the first and second differential paths may include a transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal, the transistor circuit having a control terminal driven in response to the other input reference voltage level.

In the embodiments, one of the first and second differential paths may include a transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal, the transistor circuit having a control terminal driven in response to the output reference voltage at the output node.

In the embodiments, one of the first and second differential paths may include one transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal, the transistor circuit may be configured to receive a control signal driven in response to the other input reference voltage level and to generate a drive signal to provide control to the feedback path, and another of the first and second differential paths may include another transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal, the other transistor circuit having a control terminal driven in response to the output reference voltage at the output node.

In the embodiments, the apparatus may further include a current mirror circuit having first and second legs respectively coupled to the first and second differential paths.

In the embodiments, the Zener diode circuit may be configured to provide a Zener voltage at one node of the Zener diode circuit and the voltage reduction circuit may include a first resistor connected to a second resistor at a resistor-connection node at which the other input reference voltage level is provided, and the first resistor may be also connected to the one node of the Zener diode circuit.

In the embodiments, the Zener diode circuit and the voltage reduction circuit may be arranged in parallel.

In one or more example embodiments, the PTAT circuit may be configured to provide temperature compensation without use of an output buffer.

In one or more example embodiments, the PTAT circuit may further include an output transistor circuit having one node to drive the output node, having another node to close a current loop to one of the first and second supply terminals, and having a control node driven in response to the drive signal which is to provide control to the feedback path.

In one or more example embodiments, the apparatus may further include an analog to digital conversion circuit having an analog input, having a digital output and having a supply voltage terminal to be driven in response to the output reference voltage at the output node.

In the embodiments, apparatus may further include a current mirror circuit having first and second legs respectively coupled to the first and second differential paths.

The apparatus includes a Zener diode coupled between a first supply terminal (VDD) and a second supply terminal (common) and provides an input reference voltage level. The apparatus also includes a voltage divider circuit to provide at a first input node, a reduced input reference voltage level that tracks the input reference voltage level; and includes a differential circuit to provide an output drive current and an output reference voltage at an output node. The differential circuit includes a feedback circuit including a feedback path from the output node to control the differential circuit; a first differential path to drive current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal based on the reduced input reference voltage level and to provide control for the feedback path, and a second differential path drive current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal based on the feedback path.

In one or more example embodiments, the apparatus may further include an analog to digital conversion circuit having an analog input, having a digital output and having a supply voltage terminal connected to the output node for receiving the output reference voltage.

In one or more example embodiments, one of the first and second differential paths may include a transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal, the transistor circuit having a control terminal driven in response to the other input reference voltage level.

A method for use with the above type of circuit-based apparatus wherein the circuit-based apparatus includes a Zener diode circuit, coupled between a first supply terminal (VDD) and a second supply terminal (common), to provide an input reference voltage level. The method includes using a voltage reduction circuit to provide another input reference that tracks the input reference voltage level provided by the Zener diode circuit. Also, the method discloses providing: an output drive current and an output reference voltage at an output node of a proportional-to-absolute temperature (PTAT) circuit which includes a differential circuit having first and second differential paths; and drawing a feedback current from the output node in a feedback path to control the differential circuit.

In the embodiments, one of the first and second differential paths may include a transistor circuit including a control terminal, and another of the first and second differential paths may include another transistor circuit including a control terminal, the method may further include: using the transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal; using the transistor circuit to receive a control signal driven in response to the other input reference voltage level and to generate a drive signal to provide control to a feedback path; using the other transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal; and driving the control terminal in response to the output reference voltage at the output node.

In one or more example embodiments, the method may further provide temperature compensation without use of an output buffer.

In one or more example embodiments, one of the first and second differential paths may include a transistor circuit including a control terminal, and the method may further include: using the transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal; and driving the control terminal in response to the other input reference voltage level.

In one or more example embodiments, one of the first and second differential paths may include a transistor circuit including a control terminal, and the method may further include: using the transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal; and driving the control terminal in response to the output reference voltage at the output node.

In one or more example embodiments, one of the first and second differential paths may include a transistor circuit including a control terminal, and another of the first and second differential paths may include another transistor circuit including a control terminal, the method may further include: using the transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal; using the transistor circuit to receive a control signal driven in response to the other input reference voltage level and to generate a drive signal to provide control to a feedback path; using the other transistor circuit to pass current between the first supply terminal and the second supply terminal; and driving the control terminal in response to the output reference voltage at the output node.

In one or more example embodiments, the method may further include a current mirror circuit having first and second legs respectively coupled to the first and second differential paths.

Aspects of the present disclosure are believed to be applicable to a variety of different types of apparatuses, systems and methods involving voltage reference circuits using Zener diodes as an initial reference voltage. Aspects of the present disclosure have been shown to be beneficial when used in the context of controlling voltage drift due to circuit components being influenced, for example, by changes in temperature. While not necessarily so limited, various aspects may be appreciated through the following discussion of non-limiting examples which use exemplary contexts.

Accordingly, in the following description various specific details are set forth to describe specific examples presented herein. It should be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that one or more other examples and/or variations of these examples may be practiced without all the specific details given below, provided that such variations are within the scope of the claims. In other instances, well known features have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the description of the examples herein. For ease of illustration, the same reference numerals may be used in different diagrams to refer to the same elements or additional instances of the same element. Also, although aspects and features may in some cases be described in individual figures, it will be appreciated that features from one figure or embodiment can be combined with features of another figure or embodiment even though the combination is not explicitly shown or explicitly described as a combination. More specific aspects of the disclosure are directed to voltage reference circuitry which includes a Zener diode, or a Zener diode circuit, and which is implemented as part of a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) that generates a substantially constant reference voltage over an extended temperature range (e.g., -<NUM> to <NUM>). The Zener diode circuit is coupled to a voltage reduction circuit so that both circuits are arranged to drive a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) circuit. The PTAT circuit is to generate a reference voltage output based on a bias current and on feedback from the reference voltage output. The PTAT circuit provides compensation for the Zener diode by injecting current for the reference voltage output using the feedback to adjust differential current paths within the PTAT circuit.

In certain more specific examples, the above type of embodiments are implemented with the injected current and feedback serving to stabilize the reference voltage provided by the Zener diode and to realize minimal offset drift and minimization of circuitry at the reference voltage output which may be used for driving the load (or application-specific circuit). In this regard, the reference voltage output may be used as a highly-regulated operating supply voltage (e.g., VDD) and, which in some instances, may provide for significant improvement in terms of the linearity of the reference voltage output over the extended temperature range.

As a further more specific example, one such circuit-based apparatus includes a Zener diode circuit, coupled between a first supply terminal (VDD) and ground (or common). The Zener diode circuit includes a Zener diode having one terminal coupled to ground and another terminal providing an input reference voltage level connecting to a voltage reduction circuit. The voltage reduction circuit is used to track the input reference voltage level but at a reduced voltage level in order to drive one leg of a differential circuit in a PTAT circuit. This leg and a complementary leg of the differential circuit are used to provide an output reference voltage at an output node of the PTAT circuit. Feedback between the PTAT circuit and output node permit for the output node to maintain a highly-regulated operating supply voltage which may be used for targeted circuitry having a specific application. For example, the targeted circuitry may be an analog-digital converter (ADC) circuit (e.g., successive approximation register (SAR) or sigma delta type) including a first input coupled to receive an analog input voltage, inputs coupled to receive a voltage reference level from the above-mentioned output node and voltage signal and common. As other examples, instead of an ADC circuit, the application-specific circuit may be another type of circuit benefiting from an input being a stable reference voltage or supply voltage. Also, Battery Management System (BMS) products include Zener reference circuits to provide highly-accurate measurements in circuit chains where very low long-term drift is important.

In a more specific embodiment which expands on the preceding more specific example, the legs of the differential circuit are associated with respective first and second differential current paths, each including a transistor which passes current between based on a control signal at its gate or base. The control signal for one transistor receives a signal driven in response to the reduced reference voltage (tracking the Zener diode voltage) and the control signal for the transistor in the other differential path receives a signal derived or generated from a feedback path connected to the output node.

In a particular example embodiment, an apparatus includes a Zener diode circuit, a voltage reduction circuit, and a PTAT circuit. The Zener diode circuit is coupled between a first supply terminal (VDD) and a second supply terminal and is to provide an input reference voltage level. The voltage reduction circuit is to provide another input reference voltage level which tracks the input reference voltage level at the Zener diode. The PTAT circuit includes a differential circuit responding to the voltage reduction circuit and having first and second differential paths to provide an output drive current and an output reference voltage at an output node of the PTAT circuit and further having a feedback path from the output node to control the differential circuit.

Turning now to the illustrations of various examples, <FIG> shows a block diagram of an electronic apparatus <NUM> in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus <NUM> includes voltage reference circuit <NUM> which provides an input in the form of a stable reference voltage or supply voltage to a load (e.g., application-specific circuit) <NUM>. As each of the embodiments described herein are interrelated with aspects being combinable with one another, the voltage reference circuit <NUM> may be coupled to provide a reference voltage (VREF) to digital-to-analog conversion circuitry (not shown) in the load or application-specific circuit <NUM>.

The voltage reference circuit <NUM> includes a Zener diode circuit <NUM> coupled between a first supply terminal (VDD) <NUM> and a ground (or common) terminal <NUM>. The Zener diode circuit includes a Zener diode <NUM> which may have one terminal coupled to or connected directly to the common terminal <NUM> and its upper terminal, at node <NUM>, providing an input reference voltage level connecting to a voltage reduction circuit <NUM>. The voltage reduction circuit <NUM> is used to track the input reference voltage level via node <NUM> but at a reduced voltage level in order to drive one leg (DPa) <NUM> of a differential circuit <NUM> as part of a proportional-to-absolute temperature (PTAT) circuit including differential circuit <NUM> and influences from other circuits as described. The leg <NUM> and a complementary leg <NUM> of the differential circuit <NUM> are used to provide an output reference voltage at an output node <NUM>. Feedback circuitry <NUM> is used between the differential (PTAT) circuit <NUM> and the output node <NUM> to permit the output node <NUM> to maintain a highly-regulated operating supply voltage, which may be used for targeted (load) circuitry <NUM> having a specific application.

In another specific example, an embodiment is directed to a method for using as apparatus such as illustrated in <FIG>. The method includes using a voltage reduction circuit to provide another input reference voltage level that tracks the other input reference voltage level, and providing an output drive current and an output reference voltage at an output node of a PTAT circuit which includes a differential circuit having first and second differential paths, and drawing a feedback current from the output node in a feedback path to control the differential circuit.

In another more specific example, the embodiment shown in <FIG> is used as to provide a low-drift voltage reference circuit with the Zener diode <NUM> and voltage divider circuit <NUM> to provide a reduced input reference voltage level at a first input node. The reduced input reference voltage level drives a differential circuit, with legs <NUM> and <NUM>, to provide an output drive current and an output reference voltage at the output node <NUM>. The differential circuit includes a feedback circuit <NUM> coupling feedback from the output node. By driving the differential circuit both with a feedforward signal from the first input node to leg <NUM> and with feedback from the output node to leg <NUM>, a Zener-based voltage reference circuit with low drift and with relatively few components is realized.

<FIG> is a diagram, which more-closely resembles a schematic, of one exemplary way to implement a voltage reference circuit <NUM>. In many but not all regards, the voltage reference circuit <NUM> is similar to the voltage reference circuit <NUM> of <FIG>, as both are in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The voltage reference circuit <NUM> of <FIG> includes a Zener diode <NUM>, a voltage divider as implemented in this example diagram using a pair of resistors 216a and 216b, and a PTAT (differential) circuit <NUM>. The voltage reference circuit <NUM> is coupled to a first voltage supply terminal <NUM> and a second voltage supply terminal (e.g., ground or common) <NUM>. The voltage reference circuit <NUM> provides a reference voltage VREF at output terminal (e.g., Vref) <NUM>. A nominal operating voltage, which may be VDD in some contexts, is provided at the first voltage supply terminal <NUM>, and a <NUM>-volt (or ground voltage) is provided at the second voltage supply terminal <NUM>. Current sources <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> are shown providing current from the first voltage supply terminal <NUM> to, respectively, the Zener diode <NUM>, the PTAT circuit <NUM> and the output terminal <NUM>.

Within the PTAT circuit <NUM>, one of the differential (legs) paths includes a transistor circuit having a (bipolar) transistor <NUM> to pass current through the associated leg and with the base of the transistor <NUM> receiving a control signal driven in response to the voltage referenced from the Zener diode <NUM>. This control signal, provided via the voltage divider 216a, 216b, plays into the operation of the PTAT circuit <NUM> by way of a feedforward path from the collector of the transistor <NUM> (via field-effect transistor (FET) <NUM>) to the output terminal <NUM>. A related control signal is provided via a feedback path derived from the output terminal <NUM> for controlling the base of complementary (bipolar) transistor <NUM>. The FET <NUM> effectively closes the circuit for the feedback path provided from the output terminal <NUM> to the transistor <NUM>. A current-mirror circuit <NUM>, having FETs in the respective first and second legs of the differential paths, returns the current in the differential paths to the terminal <NUM>.

As the Zener diode <NUM> has a positive temperature coefficient (TC), the PTAT (differential) circuit <NUM> is used to provide TC compensation which in turn may be used with the other illustrated circuitry in accordance with the present disclosure, to obtain a stable voltage output over a wide temperature range (e.g., from -<NUM> to <NUM>). The TC compensation is related to the insensitivity of the fully differential paths 235a and 235b within the PTAT circuit <NUM> of <FIG>. In each path, there is a complementary transistor <NUM> or <NUM> to provide for a consistent and opposing TC by ΔVbe (transistor base-emitter voltage) in each of the differential paths 235a and 235b. With a feedback loop provided, via transistor <NUM> (e.g., N-type FET), the reference voltage at the output terminal <NUM> provides excellent control over drift. Moreover, with the output node <NUM> being biased by a current source <NUM> connected to the first voltage supply terminal <NUM>, an output buffer is not needed to drive a load; rather, a load may be connected directly to the output node <NUM> thereby avoiding further power consumption and drift inherently caused by such additional buffer circuitry. Accordingly, certain example embodiments in this regard may be implemented to lessen or minimize drift, current consumption, the component count, and design space or circuit real estate. Such embodiments are also advantageous when used for circuit-based applications in which the load requires highly-accurate reference voltages for safety (e.g., vehicular and industrial applications).

Further in accordance with the present disclosure, <FIG> is yet another example illustrating an alternative to examples of circuit-based apparatuses shown in <FIG> and <FIG>. In this alternative, <FIG> shows circuitry related to the circuitry of <FIG> but with polarity reversed such as for the transistors including each of the field-effect and bipolar transistors shown in <FIG>. Related to this reversal of polarity, other differences between <FIG> and <FIG> include the current sources <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG> being replaced by current sinks <NUM> and <NUM> (connected to terminal <NUM>) of <FIG>, and the respective locations on either side of the output terminals <NUM> and <NUM> of the FETs <NUM> and <NUM>. In such contexts and for convenience, related circuits and components between <FIG> and <FIG> are labeled with corresponding reference numerals such as with the output terminals <NUM> and <NUM>, with the FETs <NUM> and <NUM>, and with the PTAT circuits <NUM> and <NUM>.

In a more specific embodiment for an example application, the circuits and components discussed in connection with <FIG> and <FIG> may be implemented to provide a desired level or degree of temperature compensation wherein the level or degree is adjusted only by a parameter that concerns a current density ratio such as "N" in the following equation or mathematical relationship. With reference to the output voltage at the output terminals <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG> and <FIG>, this mathematical relationship may be described as: <MAT>.

In this mathematical relationship and with reference to the example of <FIG> or <FIG>, Vz refers to the nominal voltage of the Zener diode, "a" or α refers to the ratio of the top-resistor versus the bottom-resistor of the voltage divider for reducing Vz. Further, ΔVbe refers to the transistor base-emitter voltage in each of the differential paths (e.g., 235a and 235b of <FIG>), k refers to Boltzmann constant, q refers to coulomb's charge, T refers to temperature in °K, and N refers to the ratio of current density of the two bipolar transistors in the differential paths.

In one such application-specific example relating to the above-described embodiments, Vz is firstly divided using a relatively high impedance to minimize current consumption (e.g., lowering the Zener voltage down to about 1V) and this reduced voltage is then buffered and compensated by the ΔVbe of the transistors (e.g., <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>) in the respective legs of the differential paths. By varying the ratio between the opposing transistors in the differential paths (e.g., in <FIG>, bipolar transistors <NUM> and <NUM> or FET-type transistors in the current mirror circuit), the ΔVbe may be adjusted for an appropriate amount of temperature compensation. If more temperature compensation is desired, a PTAT buffer stage may be added.

In a particular example, a low drift voltage reference system includes a Zener diode circuit (<NUM>, <NUM>), a voltage reduction circuit (<NUM>), and a proportional-to-absolute temperature (PTAT) circuit (<NUM>). The Zener diode circuit, which is coupled between a first supply terminal (<NUM>) (e.g., VDD) and a second supply terminal (<NUM>) (e.g., common), provides an input reference voltage level. The voltage reduction circuit (<NUM>) provides another reduced version of the input reference voltage level. The PTAT circuit (<NUM>) has first and second differential paths to provide an output reference voltage at an output node (<NUM>) of the PTAT circuit, and a feedback path (<NUM>) to draw feedback current from the output node to control the differential circuit (<NUM>).

The various terminology as used in the Specification (including the claims) connote clear meaning for the skilled artisan. As examples, the Specification describes and/or illustrates aspects useful for implementing the claimed disclosure by way of various circuits or circuitry which may be illustrated as or using terms such as blocks, modules, device, system, unit, controller, component and/or other circuit-type depictions (e.g., reference numerals <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG> depict a block/module as described herein). Such circuits or circuitry are used together with other elements to exemplify how certain embodiments may be carried out in the form or structures, steps, functions, operations, activities, etc. For example, in certain of the above-discussed embodiments, one or more modules are discrete logic circuits or IC chips, or IC chip sets configured and arranged for implementing the operations/activities as may be carried out in the approaches shown in <FIG>, <FIG> and <FIG>. In certain embodiments, certain circuitry (e.g., the load circuit <NUM> of <FIG>) is or includes a programmable circuit as one or more computer circuits (which may include memory circuitry for storing and accessing a program to be executed as a set (or sets) of instructions (and/or to be used as configuration data to define how the programmable circuit is to perform). As another example, where the Specification may make reference to a "first [type of structure]", a "second [type of structure]", where the [type of structure] might be replaced with terms such as ["circuit", "circuitry" and others], the adjectives "first" and "second" are not used to connote any description of the structure or to provide any substantive meaning; rather, such adjectives are merely used for English-language antecedence to differentiate one such similarly-named structure from another similarly-named structure (e.g., "first circuit configured to convert. " is interpreted as "circuit configured to convert.

Based upon the above discussion and illustrations, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that various modifications and changes may be made to the various embodiments without strictly following the exemplary embodiments and applications illustrated and described herein, provided that such modifications and changes are within the scope of the claims.

Claim 1:
An apparatus for providing a voltage reference, comprising:
- a Zener diode circuit (<NUM>, <NUM>; <NUM>), coupled between a first supply terminal (<NUM>; <NUM>) and a second supply terminal (<NUM>; <NUM>), to provide a first input reference voltage level, wherein the Zener diode circuit (<NUM>, <NUM>; <NUM>) has a positive temperature coefficient;
- a voltage reduction circuit (<NUM>; 216a, 216b) to provide a second input reference voltage level that tracks the first input reference voltage level; and
- a proportional-to-absolute temperature, PTAT, circuit (<NUM>; <NUM>) includes a differential circuit (<NUM>) having first and second differential paths (235a, 235b), wherein:
the first differential path is configured to provide an output drive current and an output reference voltage at an output node (<NUM>; <NUM>) of the PTAT circuit;
the second differential path is configured to provide an output reference voltage at the output node of the PTAT circuit;
the first differential path (235a) includes a first bipolar transistor (<NUM>) to pass current between the first supply terminal (<NUM>) and the second supply terminal (<NUM>), the first bipolar transistor (<NUM>) having a control terminal driven in response to the second input reference voltage level, the first bipolar transistor (<NUM>) also having an emitter terminal;
the PTAT circuit having a feedforward path from a collector of the first bipolar transistor to the output node;
the second differential path (235b) includes a second bipolar transistor (<NUM>) to pass current between the first supply terminal (<NUM>) and the second supply terminal (<NUM>), the second bipolar transistor (<NUM>) having a control terminal driven in response to the output reference voltage at the output node (<NUM>), the second bipolar transistor (<NUM>) also having an emitter terminal that is connected to the emitter terminal of the first bipolar transistor; such that
the PTAT circuit (<NUM>; <NUM>) is configured to provide a level of temperature compensation that is set by a ratio of current density of the first bipolar transistor (<NUM>) and the second bipolar transistor (<NUM>).