Abstract:
Metal-oxide-metal capacitors with bar vias are provided for integrated circuits. The capacitors may be formed in the interconnect layers of integrated circuits. Stacked bar vias and metal lines in the interconnect layers may be connected to form conductive vertical plates that span multiple interconnect layers. The capacitors with bar vias may be formed by placing multiple vertical plates formed from stacked bar vias and metal lines parallel to each other, alternating the polarity of adjacent vertical parallel plates to form multiple parallel plate capacitors. The parallel plates may be interconnected to form first and second terminals in a capacitor.
Abstract:
In mask programmable integrated circuit, such as a structured ASIC, a delay chain provides a delay that is set by a mask programmable switch. The delay chain receives an input to allow the delay mask programmed delay to be overridden using a JTAG controller. This allows testing of different delays. The input may also be provided by a fuse block, so that the fuse block can override the mask programmable switch, thus allowing a delay to be changes after mask programming.
Abstract:
A circuit can include a module having signal pads that are configurable to route signals between the circuit and at least one external device. The module can also have unused pads that are interleaved between the signal pads. A circuit can include a module having signal pads that are configurable to route varying signals between the circuit and at least one external device. The module can also have voltage pads that are configurable to route substantially constant voltages between at least one external device and the circuit. The signal pads can be interleaved between the voltage pads. A module with one or more of these features can achieve ideal performance in both wire bond and flip chip packages with the flexibility of setting a different input/output utilization percentage within the module.
Abstract:
A method for improving analog circuits performance using a circuit design using forward bias and a modified mixed-signal process is presented. A circuit consisting plurality of NMOS and PMOS transistors is defined. The body terminal of the NMOS transistors are coupled to a first voltage source and the body terminal of the PMOS transistors are coupled a second voltage source. Transistors in the circuit are selectively biased by applying the first voltage source to the body terminal of each selected NMOS transistor and applying the second voltage source to the body terminal of each selected PMOS transistor. In one embodiment, the first voltage source and the second voltage source are modifiable to provide forward and reverse bias to the body terminal of the transistors.
Abstract:
Circuitry for receiving a serial data signal (e.g., a high-speed serial data signal) includes adjustable equalizer circuitry for producing an equalized version of the serial data signal. The equalizer circuitry may include controllably variable DC gain and controllably variable AC gain. The circuitry may further include eye height and eye width monitor circuitry for respectively producing first and second output signals indicative of the height and width of the eye of the equalized version. The first output signal may be used in control of the DC gain of the equalizer circuitry, and the second output signal may be used in control of the AC gain of the equalizer circuitry.
Abstract:
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for protecting a semiconductor device that includes a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) providing a first path from a source of an electrostatic charge to ground. The ESD protection circuit also includes an NPN bipolar transistor providing a second path from the source of the electrostatic charge to ground. The ESD protection circuit also includes a regulation component coupled in series to a base of the NPN bipolar transistor to provide an amount of resistance when the semiconductor device is off and to provide a reduced amount of resistance when the semiconductor device is on.
Abstract:
An integrated circuit (e.g., a programmable integrated circuit such as a programmable microcontroller, a programmable logic device, etc.) includes programmable circuitry and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) transceiver circuitry. The programmable circuitry and the transceiver circuitry may be configured to implement the physical (PHY) layer of the 10GbE networking specification. This integrated circuit may then be coupled to an optical transceiver module in order to transmit and receive 10GbE optical signals. The transceiver circuitry and interface circuitry that connects the transceiver circuitry with the programmable circuitry may be hard-wired or partially hard-wired.
Abstract:
Integrated circuits are provided that have volatile memory elements. The memory elements produce output signals . The integrated circuits may be programmable logic device integrated circuits containing programmable core logic including transistors with gates. The core logic is powered using a core logic power supply level defined by a core logic positive power supply voltage and a core logic ground voltage. When loaded with configuration data, the memory elements produce output signals that are applied to the gates of the transistors in the core logic to customize the programmable logic device. The memory elements are powered with a memory element power supply level defined by a memory element positive power supply voltage and a memory element ground power supply voltage. The memory element power supply level is elevated with respect to the core logic power supply level .
Abstract:
A programmable logic device (PLD) includes a delay circuit and a body-bias generator. The delay circuit has a delay configured to represent a delay of user circuit implement in the PLD. The body-bias generator is configured to adjust the body bias of a transistor within the user circuit. The body-bias generator adjusts the body bias of the transistor in response to a level derived from the signal propagation delay of the delay circuit.
Abstract:
A programmable logic device (PLD) includes configuration circuitry. The configuration circuitry is adapted to receive serial configuration data from a configuration device. The configuration circuitry is further adapted to program a function of the PLD without using an input buffer to store the configuration data.