Patent ID: 6999739

Claim:
A system for receiving a high-voltage signal in a circuit implemented with low-voltage devices, the system comprising: a reference circuit generating reference signals; a first inverter, receiving the high-voltage signal, coupled to the reference circuit and generating first inverted high-voltage signals in response to the received high-voltage signal and the reference signals generated by the reference circuit; a gain inverter coupled to the first inverter and generating a high-voltage signal with gain in response to the first inverted high-voltage signals generated by the first inverter; a clipping circuit coupled to the gain inverter and generating clipped signals in response to the high-voltage signal with gain generated by the gain inverter; a level shifter coupled to the clipping circuit and generating shifted low-voltage signals in response to the high-voltage clipped signal generated by the clipping circuit; a second inverter coupled to the level shifter and generating second inverted signals in response to the shifted low-voltage signals generated by the level shifter; and an output coupled to the second inverter and communicating output signals in response to the second inverted signals generated by the second inverter; wherein one or more of the reference circuit, the first inverter, the gain inverter, the clipping circuit, the level shifter, and the second inverter comprises one or more low-voltage devices, the one or more low-voltage devices respectively rated at corresponding one or more maximum voltages, the low-voltage devices configured to allow no more than the corresponding maximum voltage across any two respective terminals of any of the respective low-voltage devices.