Differential fuse circuit and method utilized in an analog to digital converter

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Other objects and advantages will be obvious, and will in part appear hereinafter and will be accomplished by the present invention which provides a differential fuse circuit and method.
A differential fuse circuit is disclosed herein.
A first fuse and a second fuse are coupled to a supply potential (e.
g.
, five volts).
Circuitry for blowing the two fuses is provided.
A current mirror including a first leg and a second leg is also provided.
The current mirror is designed so that a current through the first leg will induce a current in the second leg (but not vice versa).
The first leg is coupled between the first fuse and a reference potential and the second leg is coupled between the second fuse and the reference potential.
An output node is provided between the second fuse and the second leg of the current mirror.
A differential sense circuit may also be included between the fuses and the current mirror.
During operation, the output node is at a potential substantially near the reference potential when the first fuse has a resistance greater than the second fuse and the output node is at a potential substantially near the supply potential when the first fuse has a resistance less than the second fuse.
One advantage of the present invention is that a fuse does not need to be fully blown (i.
e.
, have a near infinite resistance) in order for the proper logic value to be obtained.
In addition, the circuit is easily realizable using presently known integrated circuit fabrication techniques.