A voltage buffer for capacitive loads isolates the load from the feedback loop.
Using a variation of a follower arrangement, a second transistor outside of the
feedback loop introduced. The current to the load is supplied through the second
transistor, which is connected to have the same control gate level as the transistor
in the feedback loop and provide an output voltage based on the reference input
voltage. The output voltage is dependent upon the input voltage, but the load is
removed from the feedback loop. By removing the load from the feedback loop, the
loop is stabilized with only a very small or no compensating capacitor, allowing
the quiescent current of the buffer to be reduced and the settling time to be improved.
One preferred use of the present invention is to drive the data storage elements
of a non-volatile memory.