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:
Oct. 27, 2009
Filed:
Jan. 03, 2005
Akram A. Salman, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Stephen G. Beebe, Los Altos, CA (US);
Akram A. Salman, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Stephen G. Beebe, Los Altos, CA (US);
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc., Grand Cayman, KY;
Abstract
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit and a method for reducing capacitance in the ESD protection circuit. A pair of gated diodes are connected in series, wherein the anode of one of the gated diodes is coupled to a lower voltage supply node and the cathode the other gated diode is connected to the upper voltage supply node. The commonly connected anode and cathode of the series connected gated diodes are connected to an input/output pad and to receiver and driver circuitry. The gates of the gated diodes are connected together. A gate biasing circuit is connected to the gates of the gated diodes. The gate biasing circuit applies a voltage to the gates of the gated diodes and depletes their channel regions of charge carriers, which lowers the capacitances of each gate diode.