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. 04, 2010
Filed:
Jun. 04, 2007
Ke-yuan Chen, Taipei County, TW;
Ke-Yuan Chen, Taipei County, TW;
Via Technologies, Inc., Taipei, TW;
Abstract
An integrated circuit and a protection circuit capable of protecting electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage. The integrated circuit comprises a first pad, a ground pad, a second pad, a device circuitry, a discharging unit, and a discharging controller. The discharging unit comprises first and second transistors in series. The discharging controller comprises an ESD connection unit, and a voltage clamping unit. The ESD connection unit, coupled to the first pad and the discharging unit, receives an ESD pulse to establish a first control voltage to turn on the first transistor in the ESD event. The voltage clamping unit, coupled to the ESD connection unit and the first, second and ground pads, clamps the ESD pulse to establish a second control voltage to turn on the second transistor in the ESD event, and receives an operation voltage at the first pad to turn off the second transistor in normal operation.