Semiconductor apparatus
AssigneeMotorola, Inc.
InventorsRichard T. Ida, Hongzhong Xu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A low voltage thyristor is disclosed that can be used to provide protection during electrostatic discharge event. The thyristor is connected between voltage reference nodes having a common potential, such as ground nodes, that are isolated from one another during normal operating conditions. During an ESD event on one of the voltage reference nodes, the low voltage thyrister triggers, at a voltage of less than ten volts, to help discharge the ESD current through the otherwise isolated ground node.
Claims28
An apparatus comprising:
- a first conductivity type junction formed between a first region of a first conductivity type and a second region of a second conductivity type;
- a second conductivity type junction formed between the second region and a third region of the first conductivity type;
- a third conductivity type junction formed between the third region and a fourth region of the second conductivity type, wherein the first, second and third conductivity type junctions are associated with a thyristor;
- and
- a low voltage trigger control coupled to the second region and the third region to provide a thyrister triggering current at a voltage of less than 10 volts.
A thyristor formed in an integrated data processing device, the thyristor comprising:
- a first conductivity type junction formed between a first region of a first conductivity type and a second region of a second conductivity type;
- a second conductivity type junction formed between the second region and a third region of the first conductivity type;
- a third conductivity type junction formed between the third region and a fourth region of the second conductivity type;
- and
- an anode node connected to one or more regions including the first region, wherein each of the one or more regions connected to the anode node are of a common connectivity type.
An apparatus comprising:
- a first voltage reference node to provide a first voltage reference;
- a second voltage reference node, adapted to be isolated from the first voltage reference node during normal operating conditions, to provide the first voltage reference;
- a thyristor coupled between the first voltage reference node and the second voltage reference node to provide a current path between the first voltage reference node and the second voltage reference node during an electrostatic event.
A method comprising the steps of:
- detecting a voltage difference between a first voltage reference node and a second voltage reference node to determine when an electrostatic discharge event is occurring;
- providing conductive path through a thyrister when the voltage difference is less than approximately 10 volts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.