Patent ID: 7619252

Claim:
An Integrated circuit comprising: a first connection; a second connection; a substrate; and a main control connection for controlling a conductivity of the integrated circuit between the first connection and the second connection; a first transistor and n additional transistors having conductive paths connected in series between the first connection and the second connection, wherein n is an integer greater than or equal to 1, each of said transistor and said n additional transistors having a transistor control connection; n diodes, each of the n diodes being connected between a transistor control connection of the n transistors and a driver supply voltage that corresponds to a voltage at the first connection combined with an additive offset, the main control connection connecting either the driver supply voltage or the voltage at the first connection to a control connection of the first transistor; and a voltage divider connected between the first connection and the second connection and in parallel to the conductive paths, the voltage divider connecting the transistor control connections of the n transistors and the transistor control connection of the first transistor to one another and to both the first connection and the second connection, wherein the control connections of each set of two transistors are connected to one another by a subsection of the voltage divider which lies between them.