Device to Detect and Measure Static Electric Charge
AssigneeMicrodul AG
InventorsJosé Solo De Zaldivar, Philip John Poole
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device (10) to detect and measure static electric charge (q) on an object (100) being positioned in a distance (r.) from an input electrode (11) of the device (10) comprises at least one MOS field transistor (20). The input electrode (11) is connected with the gate electrode (21) of the MOS-FET (20) to detect said electrical charge. The MOS-FET (20) can comprise a gate oxide layer underneath the gate (21) and over the source (22) and drain (23) areas having a sufficient thickness to allow the MOS field transistor (20) to withstand several kilovolts (kV) of voltage and to avoid the loss of charges by tunnel effect due to the high potential of the gate electrode during ESD events.
Claims13
1-8. (canceled)
A device to detect and measure static electric charge on an object positioned at a distance from the device, comprising:
- at least one MOS transistor having
- a gate electrode;
- a source electrode;
- a drain electrode;
- a gate oxide layer having a thickness of more than 1 micrometer;
- and
- an input electrode directly connected to the gate electrode by a low resistance connection,
- wherein the gate oxide layer is positioned underneath the gate and over the source electrode and the drain electrode,
- the input electrode of the device is connected with the gate electrode of the at least one MOS transistor to detect said static electric charge, and
- the low resistance connection has no further connection with the device having a lower resistance than the resistance provided by a gate oxide layer connection within the MOS transistor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.