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diotec (Diotec Semiconductor AG)

Diotec Semiconductor AG

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Jul 31, 2025

Eliminating Level Shifters: A Cleaner Approach to High-Side Current Sources

Compact, portable measuring instruments are essential for accurately measuring fundamental electrical parameters, such as voltage, current, and resistance, as well as for conducting continuity and insulation tests - all within a single, handheld unit. At the circuit level, these instruments integrate multiple topologies tailored to specific needs. These include amplification for signal gain, signal processing modules for filtering and digitization, and protection blocks that mitigate voltage spikes primarily caused by circuit faults and ESD.

Diotec’s MMBTA2907 PNP bipolar junction transistor is designed to be the core of a high-side current source, eliminating the need for an additional level shifter circuit to ground-reference the device under test (DUT).

This configuration significantly reduces the overall circuit complexity and component count. Furthermore, this approach preserves a stable common-mode voltage, thereby simplifying downstream current sensing, improving measurement linearity, and minimizing susceptibility to noise.