Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection arrangement and ESD protection method
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorsWolfgang Soldner, Harald Gossner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
AN ESD protection arrangement is provided which comprises an ESD protection device coupled between a terminal pad of an integrated semiconductor circuit and a supply voltage rail and a compensation loop provided between the terminal pad and an internal circuit node of the ESD protection device. The compensation loop comprises a phase shifting element to provide a predetermined phase shift between an input voltage of the ESD protection device and a compensation voltage supplied to the internal circuit node of the ESD protection device.
Claims36
An integrated semiconductor circuit, comprising:
- a first ESD protection device having an input node coupled to a terminal pad of the integrated semiconductor circuit and an output node coupled to a first supply voltage rail of the integrated semiconductor circuit, and
- a compensation loop coupled between the input node and an intermediate circuit node of the first ESD protection device to provide a compensation voltage to the intermediate circuit node,
- wherein the compensation loop comprises a phase shifting element with a negative phase shift to provide a predetermined phase shift between an input signal voltage at the input node of the first protection device and the compensation voltage.
An integrated semiconductor circuit, comprising:
- a first ESD protection device having an input node coupled to a terminal pad of the integrated semiconductor circuit and an output node coupled to a first supply voltage rail of the integrated semiconductor circuit,
- a compensation loop coupled between the terminal pad and an intermediate circuit node of the first ESD protection device to provide a compensation voltage to the intermediate circuit node, and
- a phase shifting element with a positive phase shift coupled between the terminal pad and the input node of the first ESD protection device so as to provide a predetermined phase shift between an input signal voltage at the input node of the first ESD protection device and the compensation voltage.
An ESD protection method, comprising:
- providing an ESD protection device having an input node coupled to a terminal pad of an integrated semiconductor circuit and an output node coupled to a supply voltage rail of the integrated semiconductor circuit,
- providing a compensation loop between the input node and an intermediate circuit node of the ESD protection device,
- providing a delay element with a negative phase shift in the compensation loop so as to adjust a predetermined phase shift between an input signal voltage at the input node of the ESD protection device and the compensation voltage.
An ESD protection method, comprising:
- providing an ESD protection device having an input node coupled to a terminal pad of an integrated semiconductor circuit and an output node coupled to a supply voltage rail of the integrated semiconductor circuit,
- providing a compensation loop between the terminal pad and an intermediate circuit node of the ESD protection device,
- coupling a delay element with a positive phase shift between the terminal pad and the input node of the ESD protection device so as to adjust a predetermined phase shift between an input signal voltage at the input node of the ESD protection device and the compensation voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.