Power-on reset circuit with reset transition delay

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11296691-B2
Application number	US-202016867392-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 5, 2020
Priority date	Oct 20, 2015
Publication date	Apr 5, 2022
Grant date	Apr 5, 2022

Abstract

A power-on-reset (POR) circuit for CMOS logic is operable to transition between a POR_active state and a POR_inactive state and can include: (a) VDD/VT threshold circuitry to provide a Vtp_threshold voltage based on input Vdd and PMOS Vtp, and a Vtn_threshold voltage based on input Vdd and NMOS Vtn; (b) POR transition detect circuitry to provide a POR_transition signal (active/inactive) based on a function (Vtp, Vtn), which is a function of Vtp_threshold and Vtn_threshold; and (c) POR transition control circuitry to provide the POR_state signal (active/inactive) based on the POR_transition signal. For a POR out-of-reset transition, the POR transition detect circuitry to switch the POR_transition signal inactive based on the function (Vtp, Vtn) corresponding to the POR_inactive state, and the POR transition control circuitry, responsive to the POR_transition signal switching to inactive, to initiate a POR out-of-reset delay period, and to signal the POR_inactive state after the POR out-of-reset delay period.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A power-on-reset (POR) circuit comprising:
a PMOS transistor having a first drain, a first source and a first gate, the first drain coupled to a power supply terminal, the PMOS transistor having a threshold voltage Vtp;
a first NMOS transistor having a second drain, a second source and a second gate, the second source coupled to a ground terminal, the first NMOS transistor having a threshold voltage Vtn;
a first resistor coupled between the power supply terminal and the second gate;
a second resistor coupled between the first gate and the second gate; and
a third resistor coupled between the first gate and the ground terminal;
a POR transition detect circuit having:
first and second transition detect inputs and a transition detect output, the first transition detect input coupled to the first source, the second transition detect input coupled to the second drain, and the transition detect output configured to provide a POR_transition signal responsive to a Vtp_threshold voltage at the first gate, and to a Vtn_threshold voltage at the second gate;
a second NMOS transistor coupled between the transition detect output and the ground terminal, controlled responsive to the Vtp_threshold voltage; and
a third NMOS transistor coupled between the transition detect output and the ground terminal, controlled responsive to the Vtn_threshold voltage;

a POR transition control circuit having:
a transition control input coupled to the transition detect output;
an RC delay circuit having a delay input coupled to the transition detect output, the RC delay circuit including:
a charge resistor coupled between the power supply terminal and the delay input;
a capacitor coupled between the delay input and the ground terminal; and
a Schmitt trigger having a trigger input and a trigger output, the trigger input coupled to the delay input; and

a transition control output coupled to the trigger output and configured to provide a POR_state signal responsive to the POR_transition signal, wherein the POR_state signal has a value of either POR_active or POR_inactive; and

a POR output driver circuit having a driver input and a driver output, the driver input coupled to the transition control output, and the driver output configured to provide a POR_out signal.

2. The circuit of claim 1 :
wherein, in response to the POR_state signal transitioning from POR_active to POR_inactive, the POR transition detect circuit switches the POR_transition signal from active to inactive; and
wherein, in response to the POR_transition signal switching to inactive, the POR transition control circuit is configured to initiate a POR out-of-reset delay period, and to provide the POR_state signal as POR_inactive after the POR out-of-reset delay period.

3. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the Vtp_threshold voltage corresponds to a voltage across the third resistor, and the Vtn_threshold voltage corresponds to a combination of voltages across the second resistor and the third resistor.

4. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the POR transition detect circuit is configured to provide the POR_transition signal responsive to a function max(Vtp_threshold voltage, Vtn_threshold voltage).

5. The circuit of claim 4 , wherein the PMOS transistor is controlled by the Vtp_threshold voltage, and the first NMOS transistor is controlled by the Vtn_threshold voltage.

6. The circuit of claim 2 , wherein a time for transition of the POR_state signal from POR_inactive to POR_active is substantially less than a time for transition of the POR_state signal from POR_active to POR_inactive.

7. An integrated circuit, comprising:
a CMOS logic block that includes PMOS transistors with a threshold voltage Vtp and NMOS transistors with a threshold voltage Vtn, the CMOS logic block coupled to a power supply input having a voltage Vdd;
a power-on-reset (POR) circuit coupled to the CMOS logic block, the POR circuit including:
a POR state signal corresponding to a reset state for the CMOS logic block, including a POR_active state and a POR_inactive state;
VT threshold circuitry having an input coupled to the power supply input configured to provide a Vtp threshold voltage (Vtp_threshold) based on Vdd and Vtp, and a Vtn threshold voltage (Vtn_threshold) based on Vdd and Vtn;
POR transition detect circuitry coupled to the VT threshold circuitry to provide a POR_transition signal to a common terminal to selectively couple or decouple the common terminal from ground, based on Vtp_threshold and Vtn_threshold, the POR_transition signal including a POR transition out-of-reset state corresponding to a transition from the POR_active state to the POR_inactive state based on a function [Vdd>max(Vtp_threshold, Vtn_threshold)]; and
POR transition control circuitry coupled to the POR transition detect circuitry to provide the POR_state signal based on the POR_transition signal, the POR transition control circuitry including:
a delay circuit including:
a resistor coupled between a charging voltage and the common terminal, and a delay capacitor coupled between the common terminal and ground,
the delay circuit responsive to the POR_transition signal in the POR transition out-of-reset state, the POR_transition signal decoupling the common terminal from ground, to charge the delay capacitor through the resistor to generate the POR_state signal in the POR_inactive state, after a pre-defined POR out-of-reset delay period based on charging the delay capacitor.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 7 , wherein the VT threshold circuit includes:
a scaling circuit including a voltage divider having a first resistor with a first lead coupled to the power supply input, a second resistor having a first lead coupled to a second lead of the first resistor, and a third resistor having a first lead coupled to a second resistor and a second lead coupled to the power supply voltage terminal,
the Vtp_threshold voltage corresponding to a voltage at a terminal connecting the second resistor to the third resistor, and
the Vtn_threshold voltage corresponding to a voltage at a terminal connecting the first resistor to the second resistor.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 7 , wherein:
the POR transition detect circuitry is configured to provide the POR_transition signal based on a POR transition into-reset state corresponding to a transition from the POR_active state to the POR_inactive state based on Vdd<Vtp_threshold, or Vdd<Vtn_threshold.

10. The integrated circuit of claim 9 , wherein the POR transition detect circuit includes:
a Vt detect circuit, including
a replica PMOS transistor controlled by the Vtp_threshold voltage; and
a replica NMOS transistor controlled by the Vtn_threshold voltage.

11. The integrated circuit of claim 10 , wherein the POR transition detect circuit further includes:
a first NMOS transistor coupled between the common terminal and ground, controlled based on the Vtp_threshold voltage;
a second NMOS transistor coupled between the common terminal and ground, controlled based on the Vtn_threshold voltage;
such that when both the first and second NMOS transistors are off, the common terminal is decoupled from ground, and when at least one of the first and second NMOS transistors is on, the common terminal is coupled to ground.

12. The integrated circuit of claim 7 , wherein the transition control circuitry includes a Schmitt trigger having an input coupled to the delay capacitor, the Schmitt trigger configured to output the POR_state signal.

13. The integrated circuit of claim 7 , wherein, for a POR transition into-reset state of the POR_state signal transitions from the POR_ina

Assignees

• Texas Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Akour Amneh Mohammad
• Klemmer Nikolaus

Classifications

• H03K17/223 Primary

  in field-effect transistor switches · CPC title

• G06F1/24

  Resetting means · CPC title