How To Reliably Protect CMOS Circuits Against Power Supply Overvoltaging
By Mike Byrne
INTRODUCTION
All IC processes have an intrinsic breakdown voltage associated wlth them. and this results in a maximum voltage stress which can be applied to any device fabricated on that process. Aa a result, all IC manufacturers give an Absolute Maximum Ratings specification for their devices. This generally gives the maximum voltage which can be applied to any of the pins on the device. Overvoltaging a device means that stresses or voltages in excess of the absolute maximum ratings are applied to the device. This application note deals in particular with overvcltage of the power supply inputs to CMOS and linear-compatible CMOS devices.
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