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US 2016/0079228 A1Published application
Esd protection circuit with plural avalanche diodes
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsHenry L. Edwards, Akram A. Salman, Lili Yu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit (FIG. 3C) is disclosed. The circuit includes a bipolar transistor (304) having a base, collector, and emitter. Each of a plurality of diodes (308-316) has a first terminal coupled to the base and a second terminal coupled to the collector. The collector is connected to a first terminal (V+). The emitter is connected to a first power supply terminal (V−).
Claims28
A method for fabricating an electrostatic discharge (ESD) device, the method comprising:
- forming an emitter region of a bipolar transistor near a top surface of a substrate;
- forming a first base region of the bipolar transistor near the top surface of the substrate, the first base region positioned adjacent to the emitter region;
- forming a second base region of the bipolar transistor near the top surface of the substrate, the second base region separated from the first base region;
- and
- forming a collector region of the bipolar transistor near the top surface of the substrate, the collector region positioned adjacent to the first base region to define a first avalanche diode, and the collector region interdigitating with the second base region to define a second avalanche diode.
2 more elements
A method for fabricating an integrated circuit, the method comprising:
- forming a circuit with a protected terminal on a substrate;
- forming an emitter region of a bipolar transistor near a top surface of the substrate;
- forming a first base region of the bipolar transistor near the top surface of the substrate, the first base region positioned adjacent to the emitter region;
- forming a second base region of the bipolar transistor near the top surface of the substrate, the second base region separated from the first base region;
- forming a collector region of the bipolar transistor near the top surface of the substrate, the collector region positioned adjacent to the first base region to define a first avalanche diode, and the collector region interdigitating with the second base region to define a second avalanche diode;
- and
- coupling the collector region to the protected terminal of the circuit.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.