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:
Apr. 14, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1996
Blaine Stackhouse, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Gordon Motley, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An ESD protection system for protecting a CMOS integrated circuit (IC) with multiple power supplies is provided. The ESD protection system uses on-chip diodes to route ESD current from a first IC pin to the main positive power supply, where it is partly absorbed by the parasitic capacitance between the positive supply and ground. A charge sharing diode is provided between the main power supply and the clean power supply networks so that more of the ESD current may be absorbed by the parasitic capacitance between the clean power supply networks and ground. A core shunt circuit, which turns on when an ESD event is sensed, is provided to directly shunt ESD current from the positive supply to ground. Another diode is used to route current from the ground network out a second IC pin.