Patent ID: 6989979

Claim:
A VDD-to-VSS claim circuit comprising: a power node driven by a power supply; a ground node for coupling to a ground supply; a shunt transistor that conducts current from the power node to the ground node in response to a gate node; a buffer that drives the gate node in response to a trigger node; a resistor and a capacitor in series between the power node and the ground node, with the trigger node between the resistor and the capacitor; and a feedback transistor having a gate driven by the gate node, for conducting current to the trigger node; wherein the feedback transistor conducts current in parallel to the resistor, whereby the feedback transistor prevents a large voltage difference between the power node and the trigger node when the feedback transistor is turned on and whereby the shunt transistor conducts current between the power node and the sound node to protect other circuits connected between the power node and the ground node.