Patent ID: 6861893

Claim:
A circuit arrangement for a current-controlled resistor having an enlarged linear range using an arrangement of non-linear bipolar load elements, having a first resistor terminal (E), a second resistor terminal (F), a first control terminal (X) that is fed by a control current source (I 1 ), and a second control terminal (W), wherein the arrangement of the non-linear bipolar load elements comprises a plurality of chains (A, B, C, D) of load elements comprising one or more of the load elements (D.sub.A 1 . . . D.sub.Aj, D.sub.B 1 . . . D.sub.Bk, D.sub.C 1 . . . D.sub.Ci, and D.sub.D 1 . . . D.sub.D 1 respectively) including a first chain of load elements and a last chain of load elements relative to a direction of current flow through the control current source, two of the chains of load elements being center chains (A,B) formed by two parallel chains of load elements situated between the first chain of load elements and the last chain of load elements, wherein one resistor terminal (E,F) is located directly or indirectly at the center of each of the parallel chains (A, B), wherein the two control terminals (X, W) are situated, respectively, at the beginning of the arrangement prior to the first chain of load elements and the end of the arrangement following the last chain of load elements and wherein control terminals (X, W) have a low-resistance connection to one of the resistor terminals (E, F).