Patent ID: 8081408

Claim:
A method of protecting a rectifier circuit from electrostatic pulses that occur between a power pad and an electronic device comprising: connecting a predetermined number of pairs of diodes in series in the same polarity direction to produce a plurality of series pairs of diodes; connecting said plurality of series pairs of diodes in parallel so that cathodes of one diode in each of said series pairs is connected to a positive power line and anodes of the other diode in each of said series pairs of diodes is connected to a negative power line; providing a predetermined number of contacts on said electronic device; connecting said predetermined number of contacts to input nodes located between said predetermined number of pairs of diodes; connecting a plurality of first bypass capacitors between said positive power line and said negative power line, proximate to each of said series pairs of diodes, to function as a bypass for said electrostatic pulses that have a rise time that allows said diodes to conduct and prevent damage to said diodes as a result of reverse biasing; connecting a plurality of second bypass capacitors between said input node and said negative power line, proximate to said input node, to discharge said electrostatic pulses, that have a rise time that is faster than the turn-on time of said diodes, to said negative power line.