Patent ID: 6380781
Filing Date: 2002-04-30
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
An inverter having increased soft error rate tolerance comprising:an input node and an output node; a pullup device coupled between a reference node and the output node; and a plurality of pulldown devices coupled in series between the output node and a second reference node, each of the plurality of pulldown devices having at least one diffusion region, the diffusion regions occupying unequal areas; wherein the plurality of pulldown devices comprises a first pulldown device and a second pulldown device, the first pulldown device being coupled to the second reference node, and the second pulldown device being coupled between the output node and the first pulldown device; wherein the first pulldown device includes a control input coupled to the input node; and wherein a diffusion region of the first pulldown device occupies a greater area than a diffusion region of the second pulldown device.