Patent ID: 7400187

Claim:
A band-gap reference circuit, comprising: a band-gap reference unit comprising a first transistor, a second transistor and a third transistor, wherein said first and second transistors share a common base that is shunted to the collector of said first transistor and wherein said third transistor is coupled to the collector of said second transistor; a buffer circuit coupled with said band-gap reference unit; a voltage pull-up device coupled between said band-gap reference unit and said buffer circuit, wherein said voltage pull-up device is implemented as a fourth transistor; and a fifth transistor operable as an emitter follower for the emitters of said first, second and third transistors, wherein the emitter of said fifth transistor is coupled to the base of said buffer circuit via said voltage pull-up device, the base of said fifth transistor is coupled to each of the emitters of said first, second and third transistors, and the collector of said fifth transistor is coupled to Vcc; and wherein said fifth transistor and said voltage pull-up device in combination pull the V BE of said buffer circuit toward Vcc.