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:
Mar. 25, 2014
Filed:
May. 18, 2010
Patrice Besse, Toulouse, FR;
Jean Philippe Laine, Cugnaux, FR;
Patrice Besse, Toulouse, FR;
Jean Philippe Laine, Cugnaux, FR;
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
An integrated circuit comprising electro-static discharge (ESD) protection circuitry arranged to provide ESD protection to an external terminal of the integrated circuit. The ESD protection circuitry comprises: a thyristor circuit comprising a first bipolar switching device operably coupled to the external terminal and a second bipolar switching device operably coupled to another external terminal, a collector of the first bipolar switching device being coupled to a base of the second bipolar switching device and a base of the first bipolar switching device being coupled to a collector of the second bipolar switching device. A third bipolar switching device is also provided and operably coupled to the thyristor circuit and has a threshold voltage for triggering the thyristor circuit, the threshold voltage being independently configurable of the thyristor circuit. The first and second switching devices are arranged so as to provide, when in use, a bidirectional snapback characteristic and a snapback voltage associated therewith.