Patent ID: 7633314

Claim:
A combination switch comprising: a pre-charge switch having a first source/drain terminal coupled to a power supply and a second source/drain terminal coupled to a power output terminal, wherein the pre-charge switch is configured to selectively couple the power supply to the power output terminal; a header switch having a first source/drain terminal coupled to the power supply and a second source/drain terminal coupled to the power output terminal, wherein the header switch is configured to selectively couple the power supply to the power output terminal, and wherein the pre-charge switch has a lower current capacity than the header switch; a first control signal line coupled to a gate terminal of the pre-charge switch, the first control signal line configured to carry a first control signal to control a state of the pre-charge switch, wherein the first control signal is logically equivalent to, but activated at a different time than, a first control signal of another combination switch coupled to the combination switch; and a second control signal line coupled to a gate terminal of the header switch, the second control signal line configured to carry a second control sig ml to control a state of the header switch, wherein the combination switch is configured so that the pre-charge switch is turned on before the header switch.