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:
Apr. 03, 2007
Filed:
Jul. 01, 2003
Kent Oertle, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Robert Elio, Mesa, AZ (US);
Duncan Mcfarland, Tempe, AZ (US);
Darrin Benzer, Chandler, AZ (US);
Kent Oertle, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Robert Elio, Mesa, AZ (US);
Duncan McFarland, Tempe, AZ (US);
Darrin Benzer, Chandler, AZ (US);
Broadcom Corporation, Irvine, CA (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed for reducing or eliminating hot carrier injection stress in circuits. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to an integrated circuit comprising an IO PAD, an output circuit coupled to at least the IO PAD and a stress circuit. The stress circuit is coupled to at least the output circuit and is adapted to limit a high voltage across the output circuit when the output circuit is enabled, thereby reducing stress on the output circuit. In one embodiment, the stress circuit comprises at least one transistor device (a p-channel device or two stacked p-channel devices, for example) and the output circuit comprises a transistor device (an n-channel device or two stacked n-channel devices).