High Voltage Level-Shifter Circuit Design for Efficiently High Voltage Transducer Driving

This report describes a level shifter with crowbar current suppression is proposed to achieve simultaneously high switching speed and low power dissipation for high-voltage transducer driving. Unlike prior implementations, the new circuit does not require additional high-voltage supplies nor static power consumption. The prototype switches up to 32 V with only 1.8 V input consuming less than 0.5 pJ/V per transition. Delays as low as 16 ns and 8.2 ns for falling and rising transitions respectively with 1.8 V input are ideal for time-critical phased array beamforming applications and could be further reduced to 2.6 ns and 4.7 ns when driven with 3.3 V supply. Together with buffer circuitry, the circuit is able to handle loads up to 100 pF efficiently with frequency above 10 MHz, which makes the circuit favorable for high voltage transducers application such as ultrasonic imaging.