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:
Dec. 09, 1997
Filed:
Apr. 29, 1996
Isami Sakai, Tokyo, JP;
NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The present invention provides an input protection circuit including a first MOS FET including a source electrically connected to an input terminal and a drain and a gate both electrically connected to a grounding line, a second MOS FET including a source electrically connected to the input terminal and a drain and a gate, and a third MOS FET including a source electrically connected to a power line and a drain and a gate to both of which are electrically connected a drain and a gate of the second MOS FET. The input protection circuit shares a parasitic p-MOS transistor with an internal circuit, and hence it is no longer necessary to form a parasitic MOS transistor to be used only for an input protection circuit. Thus, the input protection circuit decreases the number of photomask using steps by one relative to a conventional protection circuit. In addition, the sharing a parasitic MOS transistor with an internal circuit makes it possible to prevent a current from running from an input terminal to a power line, even if a voltage higher than a source voltage is input to the input terminal. Thus, it is possible to enhance resistance to electrostatic breakdown, and fabricate an integrated circuit having high reliability with lower cost.