Patent ID: 7106102

Claim:
A programmable level shifter, comprising: a first P-type field effect transistor (FET) coupled between a first power line and a non-inverted output node and having a gate electrode coupled to an inverted output node; a first N-type FET coupled between the non-inverted output node and a second power line and having a gate electrode as a inverted input node; a second P-type FET couple between the first power line and the inverted output node and having a gate electrode coupled to the non-inverted output node; a second N-type FET coupled between the inverted output node and the second power line and having a gate electrode as a non-inverted input node; and a programmable device coupled between the first power line and the non-inverted output node and comprising at least a third P-type FET, wherein the programmable device is capable of being programmed to determine whether the third P-type FET is connected in parallel with the first P-type FET to change an effective resistance between the first power line and the non-inverted output node when the first P-type FET is turned on, and wherein the programmable device receives programming signals externally to the programmable shift register.