Patent ID: 8154324

Claim:
A driver circuit for driving at least one high voltage half bridge stage having a switch, the driver circuit comprising: a filter circuit; an inverter for receiving a signal into the filter circuit; and an amplifier for sending the signal out of the filter circuit; wherein the filter circuit includes: a resistor series coupled between the inverter and the amplifier; a capacitor coupled between an input and output of the amplifier; and first and second diodes series coupled at a node between the resistor and the amplifier, a cathode of the first diode being connected to a supply voltage potential and an anode of the second diode being connected to the supply voltage return; wherein the filter circuit sets an output signal of the amplifier to a first reference value corresponding to a logical HIGH in response to a voltage at the node exceeding a threshold value corresponding to the logical HIGH; and wherein the filter circuit lowers the voltage at the node to a reference V SS when the filter circuit sets the output signal of the amplifier to a second reference value corresponding to a logical LOW.