Patent ID: 8378718

Claim:
A switching circuit for switching a time-varying input signal, the switching circuit comprising: at least one switch including a N-channel MOSFET and a P-channel MOSFET, each having a gate configured to receive a drive signal to change the ON/OFF state of the switch; and a drive circuit configured and arranged so as to selectively apply a pair of drive signals to change the ON/OFF state of the switch, the drive circuit being configured and arranged to generate the drive signals as a function of (a) a pair DC signal components sufficient to change the ON/OFF state of the switch and (b) a pair of time-varying signal components as at least a partial replica of the signal present on the source terminal of each MOSFET so that when applied with the DC signals to the gates of the n-channel MOSFET and p-channel MOSFET respectively, the drive signals will be at the appropriate level to maintain the ON/OFF state of the switch and keep the gate-source voltages of each MOSFET within the gate-source breakdown limit of the MOSFETs; wherein the n-channel MOSFET and p-channel MOSFET each include two source-drain terminals, and the drive circuit is configured and arranged so that when the switch is in the OFF-state, the voltage applied to the gate of the n-channel MOSFET is equal to or more negative than the voltage applied to the most negative source-drain of the n-channel MOSFET, and the voltage applied to the gate of the p-channel MOSFET is more positive than the voltage applied to the most positive source-drain of the p-channel MOSFET.