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:
May. 20, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 30, 1999
Donald W. Schulte, Corvallis, OR (US);
Robert W. Shreeve, Corvallis, OR (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
This present invention is embodied in a system and a method for protecting an electrically-inactive component of a microsystem from an ESD event. The invention includes embodiments that protect the microsystem from ESD events that directly strike an electrically-inactive component and that are external to the electrically-inactive component. These embodiments include an ESD dissipation device having a connected chain of electrically-inactive components that are electrically floating as well as embodiments whereby the electrically-inactive components are held at the same potential as an electrical component. Furthermore, these embodiments include a sacrificial ESD breakdown device that provides a preferential ESD breakdown site away from the protected component and embodiments that provide a capacitively coupled thin-film layers that provide shielding to an electrically-inactive component.