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:
Sep. 19, 2017
Filed:
Aug. 19, 2015
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Roger A. Cline, Plano, TX (US);
Kyle C. Schulmeyer, Dallas, TX (US);
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
A circuit for protecting against electrostatic discharge events has a semiconductor substrate () of first conductivity embedding a first diode in a well () of opposite second conductivity, the diode's anode () tied to an I/O pin-to-be-protected () at a first voltage, and the first diode's cathode () connected to the first drain () of a first MOS transistor in the substrate. The first MOS transistor's first gate () is biased to a second voltage smaller than the first voltage, thereby reducing the first voltage by the amount of the second voltage. In series with the first MOS transistor is a second MOS transistor with its second drain () merged with the first source of the first MOS transistor, and its second source (), together with its second gate (), tied to ground potential ().