Electrostatic discharge protection circuit and method thereof
AssigneeMonolithic Power Systems, Inc.
InventorEric BRAUN
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ESD protection circuit has a clamp control circuit and a clamp switch. The clamp switch has a first terminal, a second terminal and a control terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to a first node, and the second terminal is coupled to a second node. The clamp control circuit is coupled between the first node and the second node, wherein the clamp control circuit is configured to detect the rising time of the voltage between the first node and the second node, and to provide a clamp control signal to the control terminal of the clamp switch based on the rising time, if the rising time is shorter than a first time threshold, the clamp switch is turned ON for a second time threshold, and wherein the first time threshold is shorter than the second time threshold.
Claims10
An Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising:
- a clamp switch, having a first terminal, a second terminal and a control terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to a first node, and the second terminal is coupled to a second node;
- and
- a clamp control circuit coupled between the first node and the second node, wherein the clamp control circuit is configured to detect the rising time of the voltage between the first node and the second node, and to provide a clamp control signal to the control terminal of the clamp switch based on the rising time;
- wherein
- when the rising time is shorter than a first time threshold, the clamp switch is turned ON for a second time threshold, and wherein the first time threshold is shorter than the second time threshold.
A method for providing an ESD discharge path between a first node and a second node, the method comprises:
- step A:
- coupling a clamp switch between the first node and the second node;
- step B:
- detecting the rising time of the voltage between the first node and the second node and turning ON the clamp switch if the rising time is shorter than a first time threshold;
- step C:
- turning OFF the clamp switch when the ON-time of the clamp switch reaches a second time threshold, wherein the first time threshold is shorter than the second time threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.