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AssigneeAgilent Technologies, Inc.
InventorsGuy Harlan Humphrey, Richard A Krzyzkowski
Estimating the term…
A technique for preventing high current shorts through I/O pads of an integrated circuit during power up and power down is presented. In accordance with the invention, the voltage levels of the core power supply that powers the internal circuitry of the integrated circuit and the I/O power supply that powers the input and/or output pad drivers is monitored to detect the condition wherein the core power supply is powered down and the I/O power supply is powered up. Upon detection of this condition, the pad drivers are disabled, preferably by disabling the pre-drivers that generate the pre-drive signals that drive the output driver devices. In a preferred embodiment, the process/voltage/temperature adjustment circuitry is leveraged to disable the output pads during power up and down.
An output driver for driving a signal onto a pad of an integrated circuit, comprising:
An output driver for driving a signal onto a pad of an integrated circuit, comprising:
A method for preventing high-current shorts between an I/O power supply and ground through a pad of an integrated circuit during power up and power down of said integrated circuit, said integrated circuit comprising functional internal circuitry powered by a core power supply and an integrated circuit pad powered by an I/O power supply, said method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.