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:
Feb. 17, 2004
Filed:
Aug. 02, 2001
James R Spehar, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Roy A Colclaser, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
The invention provides a way of protecting a differential pair of transistors by providing a current path between input terminals of the transistors, while limiting the voltage across reversed biased junctions of the transistors. The invention also allows a larger swing of input voltage at the input terminals of the transistors. According to the present invention, an electrostatic discharge protection circuit is provided for protecting a differential pair of transistors. Each transistor includes first and second terminals and an input terminal. The second terminals of the transistors are connected to each other. The circuit comprises a pair of bypassing circuits and a clamping circuit. Each bypassing circuit is connected in parallel with a junction formed by the input and second terminals of an associated one of the transistors to limit a voltage across the junction when the junction is reverse biased. The clamping circuit is connected in parallel with the two input terminals of the transistors for setting an allowed differential voltage swing between the input terminals to a predetermined level.