Patent ID: RE38685

Claim:
A drive circuit, comprising: drive input and output terminals; first and second supply terminals; a drive transistor having a control terminal, a first transistor terminal coupled to the drive output terminal, and a second transistor terminal coupled to the supply terminal; and a drive-control circuit having first and second inverters, and a second transistor, the first inverter having inverter input and output terminals respectively coupled to the drive input terminal and the control terminal of the drive transistor, the first inverter including a first transistor having a control terminal coupled to the inverter input terminal, a first transistor terminal coupled to the second supply terminal, and a second transistor terminal coupled to the inverter output terminal, the second inverter having an inverter input terminal coupled to the inverter output terminal of the first inverter and having an output terminal, and the second transistor having a control terminal coupled to the inverter output terminal of the second inverter, a first transistor terminal coupled to the second supply terminal, and a second transistor terminal coupled to the control terminal of the drive transistor, the drive-control circuit operable to generate a signal level on the control terminal of the drive transistor, the signal level changing at a first rate during a first time period and changing at a second rate during a second time period following the first time period, the second rate being greater than the first rate.