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:
Nov. 04, 1997
Filed:
Dec. 14, 1995
Applicant:
Inventor:
Shigeru Tohyama, Tokyo, JP;
Assignee:
NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L / ; H01L / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
257363 ; 257380 ; 257538 ;
Abstract
In a semiconductor device adapted to be driven while being cooled in operation and having one input/output terminal to which an element to be protected is connected, a protection circuit consists of a protection element electrically connected between the input/output terminal and a semiconductor substrate. This protection element has no polarity in a current-to-voltage characteristic but has a negative temperature coefficient of resistivity. The protection element exhibits a low resistance at a room temperature but becomes insulative or exhibits a high resistance at an operating temperature of the semiconductor device.