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. 06, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 02, 1997
Juan Buxo, Mesa, AZ (US);
Andreas A Wild, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Gary H Loechelt, Tempe, AZ (US);
Thomas E Zirkle, Tempe, AZ (US);
E James Prendergast, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Patrice M Parris, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Abstract
A circuit and method protect a transistor (68, 70) from damage when controlling an input signal (V.sub.PROG) that exceeds a gate to channel stress voltage of the transistor. A small, low current protection transistor (64, 66) is serially coupled to the gate electrode of the transistor being protected. The gate of the protection transistor is biased to a voltage (V.sub.P, V.sub.N) of lower magnitude than the input signal to limit the voltage applied to the gate of the protected transistor to a value within the stress voltage of the protected transistor.