The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 17, 1993
Filed:
May. 28, 1991
Applicant:
Inventor:
Kwok Fai Lee, Irvine, CA (US);
Assignee:
Western Digital Corporation, Irvine, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
257358 ; 361 56 ; 361 58 ; 361 91 ; 361111 ; 257360 ; 257363 ; 257369 ;
Abstract
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for protecting internal devices of an integrated circuit is coupled between the power rails of the integrated circuit. First and second current shunt paths between the power rails are maintained non-conductive during normal circuit operation and are triggered to a conductive mode in response to an ESD event on the power rails. A triggering circuit may employ a logic gate, such as an inverter with its input coupled to the positive power rail, which maintains a low level output during normal operation and provides a high output in response to an ESD event on the power rail.