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:
Sep. 22, 2009
Filed:
Feb. 27, 2007
Applicant:
Ker-min Chen, Hsinchu, TW;
Inventor:
Ker-Min Chen, Hsinchu, TW;
Assignee:
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Hsin-Chu, TW;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 17/50 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
A microchip includes at least one I/O area surrounding at least one core circuit area. The I/O area further includes a first I/O cell having at least one first post-driver device connected to a first I/O pad; a second I/O cell having at least one second post-driver device connected to a second I/O pad; and an electrostatic discharge (ESD) cluster shared by the first I/O cell and the second I/O cell for protecting the same against ESD current during an ESD event, thereby reducing a total width of the first I/O cell and the second I/O cell.