Tie-high and tie-low circuit
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorKer-Min Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tie-high, tie-low circuit having a tie-high output and a tie-low output comprises a regenerative device to be coupled with both the tie-high and the tie-low outputs, and at least a PMOS device and a NMOS device to be coupled respectively with a high voltage and a low voltage. A diode, a NMOS device, and a PMOS device are used as regenerative devices in three examples. These three examples exhibit improved electrostatic discharge (ESD) tolerance.
Claims21
A tie-high, tie-low circuit for locking signal logic states, the circuit comprising:
- a regenerative device electrically coupled to both a tie-high output and a tie-low output;
- at least a first electronic device electrically coupled to a high-voltage and the tie-high output and a second electronic device electrically coupled to a low voltage and the tie-low output.
A tie-high, tie-low system for locking a signal logic state of at least one signal in an integrated circuit, the system comprising:
- a tie-high output having a relatively high voltage first signal and a tie-low output having a relatively low voltage second signal;
- a regenerative device electrically coupled between the tie-high and the tie-low outputs;
- at least a PMOS transistor having its source electrically coupled to a high supply voltage of the integrated circuit and its drain electrically coupled to the tie-high output, and an NMOS transistor having its source electrically coupled to a low supply voltage of the integrated circuit and its drain electrically coupled to the tie-low output.
A semiconductor device comprising:
- an integrated circuit with one or more inputs;
- and
- a tie-high, tie-low circuit comprising a tie-high output having a relatively high voltage first signal and a tie-low output having a relatively low voltage second signal,
- a regenerative device electrically coupled between the tie-high and the tie-low outputs, and
- at least a first electronic device electrically coupled to a high-voltage source and the tie-high output and a second electronic device electrically coupled to the low voltage source and the tie-low output,
- wherein at least one unused input is coupled to either the tie-high or tie-low output of the tie-high, tie-low circuit for locking its logic state by the regenerative device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.