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US 11,152,783 B2Granted
Circuit of protection against electrostatic discharges
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics (Tours) SAS
InventorMathieu Rouviere
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A circuit for protecting against electrostatic discharges includes two avalanche circuit components having different turn-on delays with respect to a beginning of an electrostatic discharge. The two avalanche circuit components are coupled in parallel. The avalanche circuit component closer to an output node has a turn-on delay on the order of 30 ns, while the avalanche circuit component closer to an input node has a turn-on delay on the order of 1 ns.
Claims15
A circuit for protection against electrostatic discharges, comprising:
- a first avalanche circuit component comprising a thyristor having a cathode directly electrically connected to a reference potential node, and having an anode coupled to a first node through a diode;
- a second avalanche circuit component;
- wherein the first and second avalanche circuit components are coupled in parallel;
- wherein the second avalanche circuit component comprises:
- an avalanche diode having a cathode coupled to a second node and an anode coupled to the reference potential node;
- and
- a plurality of series connected avalanche diodes, with a first of the plurality of series connected avalanche diodes having an anode coupled to the second node, and with a last of plurality of series connected avalanche diodes having a cathode coupled to the reference potential node;
- and
- wherein the first and second avalanche circuit components have different turn-on delays with respect to a beginning of an electrostatic discharge.
6 more elements
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection discharge circuit, comprising:
- an input node;
- an output node;
- a first avalanche circuit component comprising a thyristor having a cathode directly electrically connected to a reference node, and having an anode coupled to the input node through a first diode;
- and
- a second avalanche circuit component coupled between the output node and the reference node;
- wherein the second avalanche circuit component comprises:
- an avalanche diode having a cathode coupled to the output node and an anode coupled to the reference node;
- and
- a plurality of series connected avalanche diodes, with a first of the plurality of series connected avalanche diodes having an anode coupled to the output node, and with a last of plurality of series connected avalanche diodes having a cathode coupled to the reference node;
- wherein the first avalanche circuit component has a turn-on delay longer than a turn-on delay of the second avalanche circuit component.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.