Patent ID: 7417416

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a voltage regulator circuit that provides substantially accurate, linear output voltage across a large range of input voltages, said method comprising: providing an input terminal for receiving an input voltage source; connecting a device to an output node to generate a load current to a pass transistor having a known dimension; connecting a pair of series connected resistors between the input terminal for receiving the input voltage source and the output node identified between the load current source and the pass transistor, wherein the first resistor of the pair of series connected resistors is a pre-calculated percentage size of the second resistor of the pair such that a size ratio between the resistors represents the size ratio desired between an output voltage and a reference voltage; providing an amplifier having (a) a first input terminal coupled between the first resistor and the second resistor, (b) a second input terminal connected to the reference voltage, and (c) an output terminal directly coupled to a gate of the pass transistor; fabricating the amplifier with a series of paired, parallel transistors that have similar geometries and maintain substantially a same drain-to-source voltage potential, and wherein each pair of parallel transistors track each other's voltage as changes in said voltage is registered by changes in load current; providing a biased current source that generates a biased voltage across the amplifier, wherein the value of the biased current generated from the biased current source is a pre-determined constant proportion of the load current generated by the load current source such that a change in the load current triggers a same proportionate change in the bias current, whereby a substantially accurate and linear output voltage is measured across the output node; setting the reference voltage to a value that is a pre-determined proportionate value to a desired output voltage, based on a relative resistive size of said first resistor and said second resistor; and providing a start up network with an output coupled between the output of the amplifier and the gate of the pass transistor, said start up network providing an output current that generates a voltage enabling the circuit to became activated once an input voltage source is applied to the input terminal.