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US 2012/0075758 A1Published application
Low Voltage Electrostatic Discharge Protection
AssigneeCambridge Silicon Radio Limited
InventorWilliam Pugsley
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AssigneeCambridge Silicon Radio Limited
InventorWilliam Pugsley
Estimating the term…
A protection circuit for protecting components from an electrostatic discharge at a node in an integrated circuit having a first set of electronic components of a first voltage sensitivity, the protection circuit comprising: detection circuitry arranged to detect an electrostatic discharge at the node; a first switching device connected between the first set of components and the node; and a second switching device connected between the node and ground; wherein, when an electrostatic discharge is detected at the node, the first switching device is configured to isolate the first set of components from the node and the second switching device is configured to provide a current path from said node to ground.
A protection circuit for protecting components from an electrostatic discharge at a node in an integrated circuit having a first set of electronic components of a first voltage sensitivity, the protection circuit comprising:
A protection circuit as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the second switching device is configured to hold the voltage at the node at an overvoltage during an electrostatic discharge.
A protection circuit as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the integrated circuit further comprises a second set of electronic components of a second voltage sensitivity connected between the node and ground.
A protection circuit as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the first and second switching devices are transistors of opposite polarity.
A protection circuit as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the detection circuitry is configured to detect an electrostatic discharge at the node by detecting when the voltage at the node exceeds a predetermined voltage.
A protection circuit as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the detection circuitry is configured to detect an electrostatic discharge at the node by detecting when the rate of increase of the voltage at the node exceeds a predetermined rate.
A protection circuit as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the detection circuitry is configured to provide a trigger voltage at its output when an electrostatic discharge is detected at the node.
A protection circuit as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising a third switching device connected between the first switching device and ground and configured such that, when an electrostatic discharge event is detected at the node, the third switching device provides a current path between the first switching device and ground, bypassing the first set of components.
A circuit substantially as described herein with reference to FIG. 1 or 2.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.