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.

Date of Patent:
Feb. 03, 1998

Filed:

Oct. 27, 1995
Applicant:
Inventors:

Giovanni Galli, Galati Marina, IT;

Giuseppe Scilla, Pedara, IT;

Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G05F / ; G05F / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
327538 ; 327540 ;
Abstract

A method, and associated circuit, which can prevent the latch-down phenomenon in transistors which are protected from going out of their SOAs. By supplementing the first protection circuit (against moving out of the SOA) with a second protection circuit which can drive the control terminal of the transistor such that when, upon the voltage across the main conduction path of the transistor being increased, the value of the current flowing through said path would tend, due to the first protection, to drop below a predetermined lower limit, that value can be kept approximately constant and unaffected by the load as seen from the output terminal of the transistor; the transistor will at all events supply the load with some current up to the acceptable limit VMAX by the transistor.


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