Overvoltage protection circuit

摘要

The overvoltage protection circuit is formed by a layer of polycrystalline silicon deposited in an insulated manner on a substrate and comprises a multiplicity of p-n junctions between adjacent regions of opposite conductivity. This produces a multiplicity of diode pairs which are connected in series and back to back and which act as a discharge track for overvoltages without minority carriers being injected into the semiconductor substrate. The overvoltage protection circuit can be produced without additional process steps in the production of silicon semiconductor devices having a gate.