US Patent 10158285 Circuit and method for operating the circuit

In various embodiments, a circuit is provided. The circuit may include a plurality of cascode stages connected in series with one another, a voltage divider which is connected in parallel with the plurality of cascode stages and is coupled to the cascode stages in order to make available a first electrical backup potential at least one cascode stage of the plurality of cascode stages, and a controller which is configured to couple the at least one cascode stage of the plurality of cascode stages to a predefined second electrical backup potential if a voltage which is present at the voltage divider satisfies a predefined criterion.