Claims
- 1. An ESD protection circuit for protecting a device which has a power supply which is at a first voltage of approximately 3.3 volts and which interfaces with devices that have a supply voltage which is at a second voltage of approximately 5 volts, said ESD protection circuit comprising:
- a bond pad, said bond pad subjected to said first voltage or said second voltage;
- a switching element connected to said bond pad, said switching element becomes conductive upon the occurrence of an ESD event; and
- a primary protection device connected between said switching element and ground for dissipating an ESD signal, said primary protection device is isolated from said bond pad except during said ESD events.
- 2. The ESD protection circuit of claim 1, wherein said primary protection device comprises a gate-coupled device having a gate oxide on the order of 100 .ANG..
- 3. The ESD protection circuit of claim 1, wherein said switching element is a lateral bipolar transistor.
- 4. The ESD protection circuit of claim 1, wherein said switching element is a thick oxide MOS transistor.
- 5. The ESD protection circuit of claim 1, wherein said switching element is a diode.
- 6. The ESD protection circuit of claim 1, wherein said switching element comprises a doped region separated from said primary protection device by a field oxide region.
Parent Case Info
This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 08/242,925, filed May 16, 1994, now abandoned
US Referenced Citations (5)
Foreign Referenced Citations (12)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0257774 |
Mar 1988 |
EPX |
0568421 |
Nov 1993 |
EPX |
55-165682 |
Dec 1980 |
JPX |
56-19656 |
Feb 1981 |
JPX |
58-138074 |
Aug 1983 |
JPX |
58-162065 |
Sep 1983 |
JPX |
61-15373 |
Jan 1986 |
JPX |
61-30075 |
Feb 1986 |
JPX |
61-263255 |
Nov 1986 |
JPX |
1-205560 |
Aug 1989 |
JPX |
4-250661 |
Sep 1992 |
JPX |
5-335495 |
Dec 1993 |
JPX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
Ajith Amerasekera, S. Ping Kwok, Jerold Seitchik; "Current Transport Modeling in an Amorphous Silicon Antifuse Structure"; Apr., 1993, Materials Research Society Symp. Proc. vol. 297, pp. 999-1004. |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
242925 |
May 1994 |
|