Patent ID: 7348791

Claim:
An electronic switching apparatus for use in automated test equipment, the electronic switching apparatus comprising: a transconducting device having source and drain regions, at least one of the source and drain regions configured to be coupled to a voltage source; a voltage comparison means coupled to the transconducting device for determining a relative magnitude of voltages applied to the source and drain regions; a multiplexer having an input coupled to the voltage comparison means for selecting a higher of the relative magnitudes of voltage; a gate adder having an input coupled to an output of the multiplexer and an output coupled to a gate of the transconducting device, the gate adder configured to add a fixed voltage to the higher of the relative magnitudes of voltage; and a bulk adder having an input coupled to the output of the multiplexer and an output coupled to a bulk of the transconducting device, the gate adder configured to subtract a fixed voltage from the higher of the relative magnitude of voltage.