Semiconductor component for transient voltage limiting
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsStephen W. Byatt, Michael J. Maytum
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Abstract
A semiconductor component for limiting transient voltages on the signal or other supply lines of a system, includes, in a common semiconductor body, a plurality of multi-junction diodes connected in the same sense between a common terminal and respective input means which are for connection to the respective supply lines of the system, and a respective further diode connected in shunt with each multi-junction diode with the opposite sense to the multi-junction diode.
Claims14
A semiconductor component suitable for limiting transient voltages on the supply lines of a system having at least three supply lines comprising at least three input means for connection to respective ones of the supply lines, and for each input means, a respective multi-junction diode which has a threshold voltage at which it changes from a high-impedance state to a low-impedance state, each multi-junction diode being connected in the same sense between a respective input means and a common terminal, each multi-junction diode being paired with a respective further diode connected in shunt with it and in the opposite sense to it and one pair of the diodes having current capacities substantially equal to the combined current capacities of the other pairs of diodes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.