Realtek Semiconductor Inc.

Hsin-Cheng Hsu

Tay-Her Tsaur

Po-Ching Lin

An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device includes a voltage divider circuit, a detection circuit, and a clamping circuit. The voltage divider circuit outputs N&#x2212;1 bias voltages according to a first voltage and a second voltage, in which N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The detection circuit detects an ESD event according to a voltage level at a predetermined node associated with the first voltage and the second voltage, and to generate N control signals according to the first voltage, the second voltage, and the N&#x2212;1 bias voltages. When the ESD event occurs, the voltage level of the N control signals are the same as the first voltage. The clamping circuit is turned on according to the N control signals when the ESD event occurs, in order to provide a discharging path of a current associated with the ESD event.

Electrostatic discharge protection device and electrostatic discharge detector circuit

Disclosed is a transmission gate circuit including a control voltage generating circuit, a high voltage transmission circuit and a low voltage transmission circuit. The high and low voltage transmission circuits are coupled between an input terminal and an output terminal. The control voltage generating circuit generates two voltage groups according to an input voltage of the input terminal and an enable voltage and thereby controls the high and low voltage transmission circuits with the two voltage groups respectively. When the enable voltage is high, one voltage group includes identical voltages while a difference between any of the identical voltages and any voltage of the other voltage group is not higher than a predetermined voltage; when the enable voltage is low, each voltage group includes decremental voltages. The high/low voltage transmission circuit is turned on when the enable voltage is high and the input voltage is high/low.

Transmission gate circuit

Disclosed is an inverter capable of withstanding a high voltage. The inverter includes a control voltage generating circuit, a high voltage transmission circuit, and a low voltage transmission circuit. The control voltage generating circuit generates a first group of control voltages and a second group of control voltages according to an input voltage, in which one group includes decrement voltages and the other group includes identical voltages. The high/low voltage transmission circuit is coupled between a high/low voltage terminal and an output terminal, wherein when the input voltage is low/high, the high/low voltage transmission circuit is turned on according to the first/second group of control voltages so that an output voltage of the output terminal is equal to a high/low voltage of the high/low voltage terminal.

Inverter with control voltage generating circuit capable of withstanding high voltage

An ESD protection device includes a detection circuit and a clamping circuit. The detection circuit is configured to output a first control signal and a second control signal according to a first voltage and a second voltage that is different from the first voltage, in which if an ESD event occurs, the detection circuit is configured to perform an inverse operation according to the second voltage, in order to generate the first control signal and the second control signal. The clamping circuit is configured to be turned on according to the first control signal and the second control signal, in order to provide a discharging path for a current associated with the ESD event.

Electrostatic discharge protection device, detection circuit and protection method thereof

A voltage level shifter circuit, including: a first control circuit, arranged to receive an input voltage and generate a first control signal; a first pull-down circuit, arranged to determine whether to pull down a first output voltage to a first reference voltage according to the first control signal; a first pull-up circuit, arranged to determine whether to pull up the first output voltage to a second reference according to a first inverse output voltage; a second control circuit, arranged to generate a second control signal according to the first output voltage; a second pull-down circuit, arranged to determine whether to pull down a second output voltage to the second reference voltage according to the second control signal; and a second pull-up circuit, arranged to determine whether to pull up the second output voltage to a third reference voltage according to a second inverse output voltage.

Voltage level shifter circuit

The present invention discloses a buffer circuit including: a pre-driver providing a first, a second, a third and a fourth driving signals according to the voltages of voltage nodes and control signals; a voltage-detection and bias circuit providing bias voltages for an output buffer and an input buffer according to the voltages of the voltage nodes and the third driving signal; the output buffer determining conduction states of the transistors of the output buffer according to the voltages of the voltage nodes, the first and the second driving signals, and the bias voltages, and thereby outputting an output signal to a signal pad; and the input buffer determining the conduction states of the transistors of the input buffer according to the voltage of the signal pad, the voltages of the voltage nodes, the fourth driving signals, and the several bias voltages, and thereby generating an input signal.

Growing community of inventors

Hsinchu County, Taiwan

Hsin-Cheng Hsu