Patent ID: 7106032

Claim:
A linear voltage regulator comprising: a light-load transistor having a gate and a light-load current path coupled between an input voltage and an output voltage; an error amplifier for generating an error signal in response to a reference voltage signal and a feedback voltage signal representative of the output voltage, the error signal controlling the gate of the light-load transistor; a heavy-load transistor having a gate and a heavy-load current path coupled between the input voltage and the output voltage; a gate control circuit coupled to the gate of the heavy-load transistor; and a mode selection circuit coupled between the error amplifier and the gate control circuit for generating a detection current signal representative of a current flowing through the light-load transistor such that when the detection current signal is larger than a predetermined threshold current signal, the mode selection circuit allows the error signal to control the gate of the heavy-load transistor through the gate control circuit.