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. 06, 2011
Filed:
Jun. 16, 2009
Applicant:
Justin Hwang, Mountain View, CA (US);
Inventor:
Justin Hwang, Mountain View, CA (US);
Assignee:
Qualcomm Atheros, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H02H 9/04 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can affect the operation of and even damage an unprotected integrated circuit. Conventional ESD protection circuits may not be able to protect the integrated circuit if the voltage at the output of the integrated circuit swings with large amplitude. In some embodiments, an ESD protection circuit comprising switching circuitry that provides a low AC impedance path to ground can prevent improper triggering of the ESD protection circuit during normal operation of the integrated circuit, while ensuring that the ESD protection circuit device reliability is not compromised.