Patent ID: 7098877

Claim:
A driver circuit for controlling a current (Id) flowing through an element in accordance with a binary data signal (DATA), said driver circuit comprising: a drive current generation circuit for supplying to a first node a drive current based on said binary data signal (DATA); a current mirror circuit, connected to the drive current generation circuit by way of said first node, for conducting through a second node a current (mI) having a magnitude of the current flowing through said first node multiplied by a predetermined current mirror ratio (m); and a pre-bias circuit having a first current supply connected to said first node for supplying a first pre-bias current (Ib 1 ) to said first node and a second current supply connected to said second node for supplying to said second node a second pre-bias current (Ib 2 ) having a magnitude of said first pre-bias current (Ib 1 ), multiplied by said current mirror ratio (m); whereby the current (Id) flowing through the element, which is connected to said second node, is controlled.