ESD protection circuit
First Claim
1. An integrated circuit chip comprising an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for providing ESD protection to on-chip circuitry of the chip, the integrated circuit chip comprising:
- a bond pad;
a crossover network directly coupled to the bond pad for separating wanted electrical data signals and ESD signals according to their frequency into at least a first branch and a second branch, wherein the first branch comprises a high pass filter, the high pass filter being configured to transmit only frequency components above a predefined spectrum of the ESD signals; and
the second branch comprises a low pass filter, the low pass filter being configured to transmit frequency components within the predefined spectrum of the ESD signals, wherein the high pass filter is implemented as a transformer, the transformer being capacitive coupled to the bond pad via a capacitor;
wherein the first branch is configured to transmit at least a spectral part of the wanted electrical data signals between the bond pad and the on-chip-circuitry; and
the second branch is configured to receive the ESD signals from the bond pad, the crossover network configured to transmit frequency components below approximately 2 GHz to the second branch and frequency components above approximately 4 GHz to the first branch.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for providing ESD protection to an ESD protected circuit. The protection circuit comprises a signal pad and a crossover network for separating wanted electrical data signals and ESD signals according to their frequency. The protection circuit further comprises a first branch configured to transmit at least a spectral part of the wanted electrical data signals between the signal pad and the ESD protected circuit and a second branch configured to receive the ESD signals from the signal pad. Additionally there is provided a corresponding method, a corresponding integrated circuit chip and a corresponding design structure.
16 Citations
19 Claims
-
1. An integrated circuit chip comprising an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for providing ESD protection to on-chip circuitry of the chip, the integrated circuit chip comprising:
-
a bond pad; a crossover network directly coupled to the bond pad for separating wanted electrical data signals and ESD signals according to their frequency into at least a first branch and a second branch, wherein the first branch comprises a high pass filter, the high pass filter being configured to transmit only frequency components above a predefined spectrum of the ESD signals; and
the second branch comprises a low pass filter, the low pass filter being configured to transmit frequency components within the predefined spectrum of the ESD signals, wherein the high pass filter is implemented as a transformer, the transformer being capacitive coupled to the bond pad via a capacitor;wherein the first branch is configured to transmit at least a spectral part of the wanted electrical data signals between the bond pad and the on-chip-circuitry; and the second branch is configured to receive the ESD signals from the bond pad, the crossover network configured to transmit frequency components below approximately 2 GHz to the second branch and frequency components above approximately 4 GHz to the first branch. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. An optical receiver comprising:
an integrated circuit chip comprising an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for providing ESD protection to an ESD protected circuit, the ESD protection circuit comprising; a bond pad; a crossover network directly coupled to the bond pad for separating wanted electrical data signals and ESD signals according to their frequency into at least a first branch and a second branch, wherein the first branch comprises a high pass filter, the high pass filter being configured to transmit only frequency components above a predefined spectrum of the ESD signals; and
the second branch comprises a low pass filter, the low pass filter being configured to transmit frequency components within the predefined spectrum of the ESD signals, wherein the high pass filter is implemented as a transformer, the transformer being capacitive coupled to the bond pad via a capacitor;
whereinthe first branch is configured to transmit at least a spectral part of the wanted electrical data signals having frequency components above approximately 4 GHz between the bond pad and the ESD protected circuit; and the second branch is configured to receive the ESD signals having frequency components below approximately 2 GHz from the bond pad; and a photo-diode, wherein the photo-diode is directly coupled to the bond pad; the second branch is configured to provide a bias voltage for the photo diode; and the second branch is configured to deliver the DC level of the wanted signals to the receiver.
-
17. An optical transmitter comprising:
-
an integrated circuit chip comprising an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for providing ESD protection to an ESD protected circuit, the ESD protection circuit comprising; a bond pad; a crossover network directly coupled to the bond pad for separating wanted electrical data signals and ESD signals according to their frequency into at least a first branch and a second branch, wherein the first branch comprises a high pass filter, the high pass filter being configured to transmit only frequency components above a predefined spectrum of the ESD signals; and
the second branch comprises a low pass filter, the low pass filter being configured to transmit frequency components within the predefined spectrum of the ESD signals, wherein the high pass filter is implemented as a transformer, the transformer being capacitive coupled to the bond pad via a capacitor;
whereinthe first branch is configured to transmit at least a spectral part of the wanted electrical data signals having frequency components above approximately 4 GHz between the bond pad and the ESD protected circuit; and the second branch is configured to receive the ESD signals having frequency components below approximately 2 GHz from the bond pad; and a laser device, wherein the laser device is directly coupled to the bond pad; the second branch is configured to provide a bias voltage for the laser device. - View Dependent Claims (18)
-
-
19. A system comprising:
- an integrated circuit chip comprising an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for providing ESD protection to on-chip circuitry of the chip, the integrated circuit chip comprising;
a bond pad; a crossover network directly coupled to the bond pad for separating wanted electrical data signals and ESD signals according to their frequency into at least a first branch and a second branch, wherein the first branch comprises a high pass filter, the high pass filter being configured to transmit only frequency components above a predefined spectrum of the ESD signals; and
the second branch comprises a low pass filter, the low pass filter being configured to transmit frequency components within the predefined spectrum of the ESD signals, wherein the high pass filter is implemented as a transformer, the transformer being capacitive coupled to the bond pad via a capacitor;
whereinthe first branch is configured to transmit at least a spectral part of the wanted electrical data signals between the bond pad and the on-chip-circuitry; and the second branch is configured to receive the ESD signals from the bond pad; and
coding circuitry directly coupled to the bond pad, the coding circuitry being configured to provide coding for a wanted signal to be processed by the integrated circuit chip such that the frequency spectrum of the wanted signals is above the frequency spectrum of the ESD signals, and wherein the crossover network is configured to transmit frequency components below approximately 2 GHz to the second branch and frequency components above approximately 4 GHz to the first branch.
- an integrated circuit chip comprising an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for providing ESD protection to on-chip circuitry of the chip, the integrated circuit chip comprising;
Specification