Patent ID: 7466171

Claim:
An integrated circuit chip, comprising: a power supply network for supplying a supply voltage to functional circuitry; and a trigger circuit that includes: a first voltage divider stack comprising: a first input in electrical communication with said power supply network; and a first internal node for providing a first divided output voltage; a second voltage divider stack electrically coupled to said power supply network in parallel with said first voltage divider stack, said second voltage divider stack comprising: a second input in electrical communication with said power supply network; and a second internal node for providing a second divided output voltage wherein: said second voltage divider stack is configured so that said second divided output voltage has a nonlinear relationship to said supply voltage; said second voltage divider stack comprises a first capacitor and a second capacitor coupled in series with one another so as to define said second internal node; said first capacitor has a first leakage current and coin rises a first transistor having a first gate oxide and said first leakage current is provided by current tunneling across said first gate oxide; said second capacitor has a second leakage current and coin rises a second transistor having a second gate oxide and said second leakage current is provided by current tunneling across said second gate oxide; and said first transistor is a low-voltage-threshold device and said second transistor is a regular-voltage-threshold device; and output circuitry in electrical communication with said first internal node and said second internal node and operatively configured to generate a digital trigger flag as a function of said first divided output voltage and said second divided output voltage.