Optocoupler emulating input stage for digital isolators

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11038461-B2
Application number	US-202016998526-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 20, 2020
Priority date	Oct 12, 2018
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

A digital isolator comprising a set of bipolar transistors and an inductor capacitor (LC) oscillator coupled to the set of bipolar transistors in series, wherein the LC oscillator is configured to be turned on and off based on the current applied to the set of bipolar transistors or the LC oscillator and generate a set of differential signals based on the current flowing through the set of bipolar transistors and mimicking the operational characteristics of an optocoupler.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A diode emulating oscillator comprising:
a first bipolar transistor having a collector, a base and an emitter wherein the collector is coupled to the base;
a second bipolar transistor having a collector, a base and an emitter wherein the collector of the second bipolar transistor is coupled to the emitter of the first bipolar transistor, and the base of the second bipolar transistor is coupled to the collector of the second bipolar transistor;
an inductor capacitor (LC) oscillator having an input and output wherein the input of the LC oscillator is coupled to the collector of the first bipolar transistor;
a current mirror transistor having a collector, a base and an emitter wherein the collector of the current mirror transistor is coupled to the output of the LC oscillator, and the base of the current mirror transistor is coupled to the base of the second bipolar transistor,
and
wherein when a current flows through the first and second bipolar transistors, the current mirror transistor is configured to flow a current proportional to the current flowing through the first and second bipolar transistors, and the LC oscillator is configured to generate a modulated signal based on the current flowing through the current mirror transistor.

2. The diode emulating oscillator of claim 1 ,
wherein a first voltage applied across the collector of the first bipolar transistor and the emitter of the second bipolar transistor is configured to regulate a second voltage at the input of the LC oscillator.

3. The diode emulating oscillator of claim 1 ,
wherein the LC oscillator comprises a first inductor having a first terminal and a second terminal, and a second inductor having a first terminal and a second terminal wherein the second terminal of the first inductor is coupled to the input of the LC oscillator and to the first input of the second inductor; and
a first capacitor having a first terminal and a second terminal, and a second capacitor having a first terminal and a second terminal wherein the first terminal of the first capacitor is coupled to the first terminal of the first inductor, the second terminal of the first capacitor is coupled to first terminal of the second capacitor, and the second terminal of the second capacitor is coupled to the second terminal of the second inductor;
wherein the modulated signal comprises a set of differential signals configured to be output from the first and second capacitors.

4. The diode emulating oscillator of claim 3 ,
wherein the LC oscillator further comprises a first field effect transistor (FET) having a gate, drain and source;
a second FET having a gate, drain and source;
wherein the drain of the first FET is coupled to the first terminal of the first inductor and to gate of the second FET, the gate of the first FET is coupled to the drain of the second FET and to the second terminal of the second inductor, and the source of the first FET and the source of the second FET are coupled to the output of the LC oscillator.

5. The diode emulating oscillator of claim 1 further comprising,
a spread spectrum module coupled to the LC oscillator, wherein the spread spectrum module comprises a capacitor coupled to the LC oscillator and is configured to adjust the frequency of the modulated signal.

6. A digital isolator comprising:
a diode emulating oscillator configured to generate a modulated signal;
an isolation barrier configured to transmit the modulated signal via a channel; and
a receiver configured to receive and demodulate the modulated signal,
wherein the diode emulating oscillator comprises

a first bipolar transistor having a collector, a base and an emitter wherein the collector is coupled to the base;
a second bipolar transistor having a collector, a base and an emitter wherein the collector of the second bipolar transistor is coupled to the emitter of the first bipolar transistor, and the base of the second bipolar transistor is coupled to the collector of the second bipolar transistor;
an inductor capacitor (LC) oscillator having an input and output wherein the input of the LC oscillator is coupled to the collector of the first bipolar transistor;
a current mirror transistor having a collector, a base and an emitter wherein the collector of the current mirror transistor is coupled to the output of the LC oscillator, and the base of the current mirror transistor is coupled to the base of the second bipolar transistor, and
wherein when a current flows through the first and second bipolar transistors, the current mirror transistor is configured to flow a current proportional to the current flowing through the first and second bipolar transistors, and the LC oscillator is configured to generate a modulated signal based on the current flowing through the current mirror transistor.

7. The digital isolator of claim 6 ,
wherein the modulated signal generated by the LC oscillator comprises an on-off key based modulated signal based on a current of the LC oscillator when the current flows through the first and second bipolar transistors.

8. The digital isolator of claim 6 ,
wherein the receiver comprises an amplifier configured to amplify the received modulated signal, and an envelope detector configured to detect the envelope of the amplified modulated signal.

9. The digital isolator of claim 8 ,
wherein the received modulated signal is positively correlated with the current flowing through the first and second bipolar transistors; and
wherein the envelope detector is configured to detect a change in amplitude of the amplified modulated signal.

10. The digital isolator of claim 6 ,
wherein the diode emulating oscillator further comprises a spread spectrum module coupled to the LC oscillator, and
wherein the spread spectrum module is configured to adjust the frequency of the modulated signal.

Assignees

• Texas Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Singh Tarunvir
• Shrivastava Kumar Anurag
• Paul Somshubhra
• Nasum Sreeram Subramanyam

Classifications

• H03F3/45

  Differential amplifiers (differential sense amplifiers G11C7/062) · CPC title

• H03B5/1228

  the amplifier comprising one or more field effect transistors · CPC title

• H03B5/1231

  the amplifier comprising one or more bipolar transistors · CPC title

• H03B5/1215

  the current source or degeneration circuit being in common to both transistors of the pair, e.g. a cross-coupled long-tailed pair · CPC title

• H03B2200/0038

  including a current mirror · CPC title