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. 31, 2005
Filed:
Dec. 11, 2002
Craig T. Salling, Plano, TX (US);
Roger A. Cline, Plano, TX (US);
Craig T. Salling, Plano, TX (US);
Roger A. Cline, Plano, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
Protection circuitry () for protecting an integrated circuit against an ESD pulse is provided. The protection circuitry () includes a discharge circuitry () on a substrate () that discharges an ESD pulse to the integrated circuit to ground (). The protection circuitry () also includes a drive circuitry () that uses a portion of the ESD pulse voltage to bias the substrate () using a first guard ring () in the substrate (), which surrounds the discharge circuitry () and drive circuitry (). The protection circuitry () further includes a second guard ring () in substrate (), which surrounds the first guard ring () and connects to Vss/ground potential (), thereby providing uniformity of the substrate bias.