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:
Apr. 19, 2011
Filed:
Aug. 01, 2007
Nathaniel Peachey, Oak Ridge, NC (US);
Carlos Gamero, High Point, NC (US);
Nathaniel Peachey, Oak Ridge, NC (US);
Carlos Gamero, High Point, NC (US);
RF Micro Devices, Inc., Greensboro, NC (US);
Abstract
The present invention is a latching electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit that enables and latches an ESD clamping circuit upon an ESD event, and disables and un-latches the ESD clamping circuit upon either a drop in the DC supply voltage below a defined threshold or a time-out. The time-out protects against effects of inadvertent latching or any anomaly in which the latching ESD clamping circuit does not un-latch. An ESD event is a voltage spike between the DC supply voltage and ground wherein the ESD clamping circuit applies a low impedance between the DC supply voltage and ground to dissipate the energy contained in the voltage spike, thereby protecting adjacent circuitry.