Patent ID: 7746125

Claim:
A voltage driver circuit for driving a device at a selected one of a plurality of voltages associated with respective device operations including a high voltage operation and a relatively lower voltage operation, the driver circuit comprising an input (IN), a single output (OUT) for connection to said device, and a plurality of voltage drivers between said input and said output including a high voltage breakdown driver and a relatively lower breakdown voltage driver, wherein said high voltage breakdown driver comprises inverters and said relatively lower breakdown voltage driver comprises an inverter, wherein an output of one of the inverters of said high voltage breakdown driver is connected to an input of the inverter of said relatively lower breakdown voltage driver, the circuit being arranged such that, during a high voltage operation, said high voltage breakdown driver is connected to said output and there is a substantially zero voltage drop across said relatively lower breakdown voltage driver, and, during a relatively lower voltage operation, said relatively lower breakdown voltage driver provides the drive voltage for driving said device, the contribution of said high breakdown voltage driver to said drive voltage during said relatively lower voltage operation being substantially negligible.