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:
Aug. 15, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 10, 1994
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
A p-well region (16) is formed in the main surface area of an n-type semiconductor substrate (11). A potential (V.sub.BB) which is lower than an externally input potential is applied to the p-well region (16). In the surface area of the p-well region (16), a first impurity diffused layer (12) of n-type to which the externally input potential (Vin) is applied and a second impurity diffused layer (13) of n-type to which a reference potential is applied are formed. The first impurity diffused layer (12) serves as the drain region of a first MOS transistor (Q9) of n-channel formed in the p-well region (16) and the second impurity diffused layer (13) serves as the drain region of a second MOS transistor (Q10) of n-channel which is also formed in the p-well region (16). The first and second MOS transistors (Q9 and Q10) constitute the input section of an input circuit. The input circuit detects the level of the externally input potential (Vin) by comparing the externally input potential (Vin) with the reference potential (Vref).