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US 11,114,848 B2Granted
ESD protection charge pump active clamp for low-leakage applications
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsJames P. Di Sarro, Farzan Farbiz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed examples include an electrostatic discharge protection circuit including a shunt transistor coupled between first and second power supply nodes, a sensing circuit to deliver a control voltage signal to turn on the shunt transistor in response to a detected change in a voltage of the first power supply node resulting from an ESD stress event, and a charge pump circuit to boost the control voltage signal in response to the control voltage signal turning the shunt transistor on.
Claims13
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising:
- a clamp circuit, including:
- a shunt transistor coupled between a first power supply node and a second power supply node, the shunt transistor including a control terminal, and
- a sensing circuit coupled to the control terminal;
- the sensing circuit including a resistor having a first terminal connected to the first power supply node, and a second terminal connected to a first internal node;
- the sensing circuit also including a capacitor connected between the first internal node and the second power supply node;
- and the sensing circuit including a PMOS sensing transistor having a source connected to a charge pump circuit at a second internal node, a drain connected to the control terminal of the shunt transistor, and a gate connected to the first internal node;
- and
- the charge pump circuit coupled to the control terminal, the charge pump circuit including:
- a charge pump capacitor coupled to the sensing circuit and a switching circuit coupled between the charge pump capacitor and the control terminal.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.