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:
Jan. 21, 2014
Filed:
Nov. 23, 2010
Claude L. Bertin, Venice, FL (US);
Brent M. Segal, Woburn, MA (US);
Thomas Rueckes, Rockport, MA (US);
Jonathan W. Ward, Fairfax, VA (US);
Claude L. Bertin, Venice, FL (US);
Brent M. Segal, Woburn, MA (US);
Thomas Rueckes, Rockport, MA (US);
Jonathan W. Ward, Fairfax, VA (US);
Nantero Inc., Woburn, MA (US);
Abstract
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for protecting a protected circuit is coupled to an input pad. The ESD circuit includes a nanotube switch electrically having a control. The switch is coupled to the protected circuit and to a discharge path. The nanotube switch is controllable, in response to electrical stimulation of the control, between a de-activated state and an activated state. The activated state creates a current path so that a signal on the input pad flows to the discharge path to cause the signal at the input pad to remain within a predefined operable range for the protected circuit. The nanotube switch, the input pad, and the protected circuit may be on a semiconductor chip. The nanotube switch may be on a chip carrier. The deactivated and activated states may be volatile or non-volatile depending on the embodiment.