I.C. power supply terminal protection clamp

Details I.C. power supply terminal protection clamp I.C. power supply terminal protection clamp

1996-11-27

1998-06-30

Leja, Ronald W.

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Safety and protection of systems and devices

Load shunting by fault responsive means

361111, H02H 900

Patent

active

057743185

ABSTRACT:
A power supply terminal clamping circuit for use in an integrated circuit protects positive and negative voltage power supply terminals from both overvoltage and ESD events. A diode stack is connected between a protected power supply terminal and ground, with the number of diodes in the stack establishing a clamping voltage. The stack becomes forward-biased when the voltage on the protected terminal reaches the clamping voltage, which triggers a switch that provides a current path between the terminal and ground that clamps the terminal voltage. A bipolar transistor embodiment includes a diode stack made from diode-connected bipolar transistors and a bipolar Darlington pair switch.

REFERENCES:
patent: 5463520 (1995-10-01), Nelson
R. Dorf, The Electrical Engineering Handbook, CRC Press, Inc., 1993, pp. 132-136. No Month.
Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics, Cambridge University Press (1989), pp. 318-320. No Month.
Morgan and Board, An Introduction to Semiconductor Microtechnology, John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. 1990, pp. 151-153. No Month.

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