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:
Oct. 16, 2001
Filed:
Sep. 09, 1999
Francesco Pulvirenti, Acireale, IT;
Enrico Ravanelli, Monza, IT;
STMicroelectronics S.r.l., Agrate Brianza, IT;
Abstract
The present invention relates to a circuit device for protection against electrostatic discharge, and being immune to the latch-up phenomenon. The circuit device is of the integrated type in a portion of a semiconductor integrated circuit. The device includes an active limiting element and a resistor connected in series between a terminal of the active element connected to an input/output pin of the integrated circuit, and a terminal of a circuit to be protected. The active element is a bipolar transistor having a base terminal and an emitter-acting collector terminal connected together. The distributed resistor is formed in an emitter-acting collector region of the transistor which is diffused and elongated at the surface inside a base pocket of the transistor.