Over-voltage protection of integrated circuit I/O pins

Details Over-voltage protection of integrated circuit I/O pins Over-voltage protection of integrated circuit I/O pins

2005-11-29

2005-11-29

Zweizig, Jeffrey (Department: 2816)

Miscellaneous active electrical nonlinear devices, circuits, and

Signal converting, shaping, or generating

Current driver

C327S534000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06970024

ABSTRACT:
Circuits, methods, and apparatus for protecting devices in an output stage from over-voltage conditions caused by high supply and input voltages. Embodiments provide over-voltage protection that operates over a range of voltage levels, and that can be optimized for performance at different voltage levels. An exemplary embodiment of the present invention uses stacked devices to protect n and p-channel output devices from excess supply and input voltages. These stacked devices are biased by voltages received at their gates. These gate voltages vary as a function of supply voltage to maintain performance. Other embodiments of the present invention provide a body bias switch that generates a bias for the bulk of p-channel output devices. This bias tracks the higher of a supply or input voltage, such that parasitic drain-to-bulk diodes do not conduct. A switch may be provided that shorts the bulk connection to VCC under appropriate conditions.

REFERENCES:
patent: 5422591 (1995-06-01), Rastegar et al.
patent: 6040729 (2000-03-01), Sanchez et al.
patent: 6140846 (2000-10-01), Chan et al.
patent: 6404269 (2002-06-01), Voldman
patent: 6518818 (2003-02-01), Hynes
patent: 6765430 (2004-07-01), Ando

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