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. 12, 2009
Filed:
Dec. 20, 2004
Quan Yuan, Milpitas, CA (US);
Richard Weisfield, Mt. View, CA (US);
William Yao, Los Altos, CA (US);
Quan Yuan, Milpitas, CA (US);
Richard Weisfield, Mt. View, CA (US);
William Yao, Los Altos, CA (US);
DPIX LLC, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An ESD protection system for an image sensor array includes a two-dimensional array of pixels formed on a substrate. Each of the pixels is connected to a gate line and a data line. The system includes a common ESD bus and at least one ESD protection circuit formed on the substrate. The protection circuit includes: a pair of thin film transistors connected in a back-to-back configuration with a first terminal connected to one of the gate lines, and a second terminal connected to the common ESD bus. Upon the occurrence of an electrostatic discharge onto the gate line causing the voltage across the terminals to exceed a threshold value, the protection circuit discharges the ESD charge from the gate line to the ESD bus, thereby preventing damage to each of the switching transistors in the pixels connected to the gate line.