CIRCUIT CONFIGURATION FOR PROTECTING INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

摘要

As protection against destruction in the case of electrostatic discharges (ESD), semiconductor chips must have protection circuits (PC). Normally, a diode (D) is used between the supply potential connections (VSS, VCC) and ESD protection circuits. A protection circuit between a circuit connection (P) and a supply potential line (L2) does not provide complete protection since the line resistances, in conjunction with parasitic capacitances, produce high voltage peaks in the case of extended line lengths. The invention therefore proposes to connect a discharging element (SD) between the supply potential lines (L1, L2) at each circuit connection (P).