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:
Dec. 14, 2010
Filed:
Aug. 06, 2007
Masanori Yoshitani, Kawasaki, JP;
Tetsuya Hayashi, Kawasaki, JP;
Tomokazu Higuchi, Kawasaki, JP;
Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited, Yokohama, JP;
Abstract
An electrostatic discharge protection circuit and a semiconductor device that prevent the breakdown of a semiconductor device caused by an electrostatic discharge (ESD) which suddenly changes. When voltage which is far higher than VDDis applied to a power supply line as a result of an ESD, a great electric potential difference is produced between VDDand VSS. At this time an electric current path for making an electric charge generated by overvoltage flow to a grounding line is formed by a clamp circuit. As a result, an electric current flows into GND of a circuit block. This prevents the production of a great electric potential difference between VDDand VSS. In addition, at this time a rapid change in the level of the overvoltage applied to a signal line is suppressed by a protection circuit. This prevents the dielectric breakdown of gate oxide films of transistors included in a circuit block which receives a control signal.