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:
Jun. 17, 1997
Filed:
Jul. 25, 1995
Peter M Pani, Mountain View, CA (US);
Benjamin S Ting, Saratoga, CA (US);
Benny Ma, Saratoga, CA (US);
BTR, Inc., Reno, NV (US);
Abstract
A bidirectional passgate switch for connecting two conductors utilizes technology such as electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM). The switch includes two EEPROM components wherein the floating gates of the components are shared. In one embodiment a first n-channel passgate transistor is used for programming and storage of the state of the switch. The oxide of the first transistor is a thin oxide to enable ease of programming. A second n-channel passgate transistor functions as the bidirectional switch wherein the source and drain terminals are coupled to the routing lines to be selectively connected. The second transistor oxide is a thick oxide to minimize the leakage due to tunneling. Thus, the programming lines and routing lines are separated, making the programming process simpler while minimizing leakage.