Patent ID: 8450986

Claim:
A voltage regulator, comprising: an error amplifier circuit for amplifying and outputting a difference between a divided voltage determined by dividing an output voltage of an output transistor, and a reference voltage, to control a gate of the output transistor; and an overcurrent protection circuit for detecting an overcurrent flowing into the output transistor to limit a current of the output transistor, wherein the overcurrent protection circuit comprises: a sense transistor controlled by an output voltage of the error amplifier circuit, for sensing an output current of the output transistor; a first transistor comprising an N-channel depletion type transistor or an N-channel enhancement type transistor having a gate connected to a drain thereof and that operates in a non-saturated region, for generating a voltage based on a current flowing through the sense transistor; and an output current limiting circuit controlled by the voltage generated by the first transistor, for limiting a gate voltage of the output transistor.