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:
Feb. 24, 1998
Filed:
Jun. 10, 1996
Chau-Neng Wu, Kaohsiung Hsien, TW;
Ming-Dou Ker, Tainan Hsien, TW;
Winbond Electronics Corporation, Taiwan, TW;
Abstract
An electrostatic discharge protection network which diverts ESD stress arising between any two contact pads of an IC device, in order to prevent damage to the internal circuitry of the IC device. An ESD discharge bus is arranged around the periphery of an IC chip. Between each IC pad and the discharge bus, there is a protection circuit to directly bypass an ESD stress arising at any two IC pads. Each ESD protection circuit includes a diode, a thick-oxide device, a resistor, and a capacitor. The protection circuit is operated in snapback mode without causing breakdown. Therefore, the triggering voltage of the ESD protection circuit is lowered to the level of the snapback voltage but not to the level of the breakdown voltage.