Patent · US Expired

Semiconductor integrated circuit, semiconductor non-volatile memory, memory card, and microcomputer

US7072218B2 · kind B2 · utility

11Cited by
4References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignees

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 3, 2002
Grant dateJul 4, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 1, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01L2924/0002
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A high voltage output driver derives operational power from high voltages and a switching circuit which reverses the output state of the high voltage output driver. The high voltage output driver has in a current path of the high voltages, a series circuit of a first MOS transistor (M1) and second MOS transistor (M2), with the serial connection node thereof being the driver output terminal. The switching circuit operates to reverse the complementary switching states of the first and second MOS transistors such that one transistor in the on-state is switched to an off-state first and the other transistor is switched to an on-state afterward. Even if the other MOS transistor has its Vds exceeding the minimum breakdown voltage when it operates to turn on, the through current path is already shut off, and therefore the high voltage output driver does not break down.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.