Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100026366 | Low Leakage Voltage Level Shifting Circuit - A voltage level shifting circuit for an integrated circuit system having an internal low voltage power supply (VCCL) and an external high voltage power supply (VCCH) is disclosed, the voltage level shifting circuit comprises a pair of cross coupled PMOS transistors connected to the VCCH, a NMOS transistor with a source connected to a ground (VSS) and a gate connected to a first signal swinging between the VCCL and the VSS, and a switching device coupled between a drain of one of the pair of PMOS transistors and a drain of the NMOS transistor, wherein the pair of PMOS transistors are high voltage transistors and the switching device is off when the VCCL is below a predetermined voltage level, and the switching device is on when the VCCL is above the predetermined voltage level. | 02-04-2010 |
20120286341 | Adding Decoupling Function for TAP Cells - A tap cell includes a well region and a well pickup region on the well region; a VDD power rail; and a VSS power rail. A MOS capacitor includes a gate electrode line acting as a first capacitor plate, and the well pickup region acting as a part of a second capacitor plate. A first one of the first and second capacitor plates is coupled to the VDD power rail, and a second one of the first and second capacitor plates is coupled to the VSS power rail. | 11-15-2012 |
20130001704 | Resistors Formed Based on Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Structures - A device includes a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) device, which includes a gate electrode and a source/drain region adjacent the gate electrode. A first and a second contact plug are formed directly over and electrically connected to two portions of a same MOS component, wherein the same MOS component is one of the gate electrode and the source/drain region. The same MOS component is configured to be used as a resistor that is connected between the first and the second contact plugs. | 01-03-2013 |
20130016445 | RC Triggered ESD Protection DeviceAANM Liu; Yen-LinAACI Taichung CityAACO TWAAGP Liu; Yen-Lin Taichung City TWAANM Chen; Kuo-JiAACI Wu-KuAACO TWAAGP Chen; Kuo-Ji Wu-Ku TWAANM Yang; Tzu-YiAACI TaipeiAACO TWAAGP Yang; Tzu-Yi Taipei TW - An RC triggered ESD protection device comprises a discharge transistor, a driver circuit and a trigger circuit. The trigger circuit comprises a plurality of native NMOS transistors connected in parallel with a plurality of PMOS transistors operating as resistors. The relatively small resistance of the plurality of native NMOS transistors helps to keep a stable RC time constant value so that the ESD protection device can avoid a leakage current during a power up operation. | 01-17-2013 |
20130119449 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE WITH SEAL RING WITH EMBEDDED DECOUPLING CAPACITOR - A seal ring for semiconductor devices is provided with embedded decoupling capacitors. The seal ring peripherally surrounds an integrated circuit chip in a seal ring area. The at least one embedded decoupling capacitor may include MOS capacitors, varactors, MOM capacitors and interdigitized capacitors with multiple capacitor plates coupled together. The opposed capacitor plates are coupled to different potentials and may advantageously be coupled to V | 05-16-2013 |
20140042590 | Metal-Insulator-Metal Capacitor and Method of Fabricating - Methods and apparatus are disclosed for manufacturing metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors. The MIM capacitors may comprise an electrode, which may be a top or bottom electrode, which has a bottle neck. The MIM capacitors may comprise an electrode, which may be a top or bottom electrode, in contact with a sidewall of a via. The sidewall contact or the bottle neck of the electrode may burn out to form a high impedance path when the leakage current exceeds a specification, while the sidewall contact or the bottle neck of the electrode has no impact for normal MIM operations. The MIM capacitors may be used as decoupling capacitors. | 02-13-2014 |
20140210014 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT WITH A METALIZED RESISTOR IN A STANDARD CELL CONFIGURATION - An integrated circuit includes a layer of a semiconductor device including a standard cell configuration having a fixed gate electrode pitch between gate electrode lines and a resistor formed of metal between the fixed gate electrode pitch of the standard cell configuration. In one embodiment, the integrated circuit can be charged device model (CDM) electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for a cross domain standard cell having the resistor formed of metal. A method of manufacturing integrated circuits includes forming a plurality of gate electrode lines separated by a gate electrode pitch to form a core standard cell device, applying at least a first layer of metal within the gate electrode pitch to form a portion of a resistor, and applying at least a second layer of metal to couple to the first layer of metal to form another portion of the resistor. | 07-31-2014 |
20140264894 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ARBITRARY METAL SPACING FOR SELF-ALIGNED DOUBLE PATTERNING - An integrated circuit includes a first conductive structure of a device configured to have a first voltage potential, a second conductive structure of the device configured to have a second voltage potential that is different than the first voltage potential, and a peacekeeper structure disposed between and separating the first conductive structure and the second conductive structure. The peacekeeper structure is separated from at least one of the first conductive structure and the second conductive structure by a fixed spacing distance for conductive lines for a self-aligned double patterning (“SADP”) process from the integrated circuit was formed. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268449 | CIRCUIT AND METHOD OF ELECTRICALLY DECOUPLING NODES - A device includes a first power node, a second power node, a first input node, a second input node, a protected circuit, and a switch circuit. The protected circuit is coupled between the first power node and the second power node, and the protected circuit is further coupled with the second input node. The switch circuit is coupled with the first power node, the second power node, the first input node, and the second input node. The switch circuit is configured to electrically decouple the first input node and the second input node after (a) the first power node is floating or electrically coupled to the second power node and (b) a voltage level at the first input node is greater than a voltage level at the second power node by a predetermined voltage value. | 09-18-2014 |
20150062761 | Electrostatic Discharge Protection for Level-Shifter Circuit - A circuit, a multiple power domain circuit, and a method are disclosed. An embodiment is a circuit including an input circuit having a first output and a second output, the input circuit being coupled to a first power supply voltage, and a level-shifting circuit having a first input coupled to the first output of the input circuit and a second input coupled to the second output of the input circuit, the level-shifting circuit being coupled to a second power supply voltage. The circuit further includes a first transistor coupled between a first node of the level-shifting circuit and the second power supply voltage, and a control circuit having an output coupled to a gate of the first transistor, the control circuit being coupled to the second power supply voltage. | 03-05-2015 |
20150077886 | Electrostatic Discharge Protection Circuit and Related Method - A device includes a first power transistor, a second power transistor electrically connected in series with the first power transistor, a first electrostatic discharge (ESD) detection circuit, and a first control circuit electrically connected to the first ESD detection circuit and the first power transistor. | 03-19-2015 |