Patent ID: 6946885

Claim:
A ripple gate drive circuit comprising: a plurality of control circuits including first, second, and third control circuits; a plurality of control circuits including first, second, and third transistors having their power terminals connected in series across the electrical potential; the first, second, and third transistors are responsive to the first, second, and third control circuits, respectively; the logic circuit of the first control circuit is responsive to the logical OR combination of the control signal and an optical signal received from the second control circuit for controlling when the transistor associated with the first control circuit turns on and turns off; the logic circuit of the second control circuit is responsive to the logical AND combination of the control signal and an optical signal received from the first control circuit, wherein this logical AND combination is logically OR'ed with an optical signal received from this third control circuit for controlling when the transistor associated with the second control circuit turns on and turns off; and the logic circuit of the third control circuit is responsive to the logical AND combination of the control signal and an optical signal received from the second control circuit for controlling when the transistor associated with the third control circuit turns on and turns off.