Importance

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Abstract

A current sensor (10), for sensing a quiescent current (I.sub.DDQ) drawn by an integrated circuit (12) from a supply voltage V.sub.DD includes a current sink and voltage transducer (14) for sinking current from the integrated circuit during a logic transition and for providing a voltage indicative of the quiescent current when the circuit operates in its quiescent state. A comparator (18) compares this voltage to a reference voltage representative of a prescribed quiescent current. The comparator is coupled to a preamplifier stage (38) which serves to generate an indicating voltage in accordance with the comparator output signal. The indicating voltage from the preamplifier stage is stabilized by a stabilizing circuit (58) against variations in the supply voltage V.sub.DD to assure that the indicating voltage provides an accurate measure of whether the quiescent current I.sub.DDQ is above or below a prescribed current.

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First Claim