Circuit for the protection of IGFETs from overvoltage
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     Our present invention relates to integrated IGFET circuitry responsive to binary-coded incoming bipolar signals of widely varying amplitudes which are to be converted into amplitude-limited binary outgoing signals. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field-effect transistors of the insulated-gate type (IGFET) have a high input impedance and are therefore particularly suitable for amplifying or otherwise processing incoming signals of the binary-coded type whose basic configuration must be preserved. However, the small capacitance existing between the insulated gate and the substrate of an IGFET is conducive to a breakdown of the intervening insulation even upon accumulation of minor charges on the gate. In order to prevent such a breakdown, it has become customary to combine such an IGFET with a Zener-type diode--formed in the same substrate--which is reverse-biased by the signal voltage (assumed to be unipolar in nature) but breaks down when that voltage exceeds a level that can be safely tolerated by the gate/substrate assembly. 
     As pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,159, such a protective diode may become troublesome if the input voltage is not strictly unipolar but is overlain by parasitic oscillations which could bias the diode in its forward direction with resulting injection of minority carriers into the common substrate. The solution offered by that U.S. patent involves the provision of a second diode which is connected in parallel with the first one but does not share the substrate of the IGFET and which conducts in response to an inverted voltage before that voltage reaches the threshold at which minority carriers would begin to pass through the first diode. 
     The required physical isolation of the second diode from the common substrate of the first diode and of the IGFET protected thereby necessitates the use of different semiconductor bodies or the separation of the two diodes from each other by a cut in the substrate of such a body. The need for two distinct components in the first instance is a drawback where compactness is an important consideration; the additional operation of producing a gap is inconvenient in the second instance. 
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     The general object of our present invention, therefore, is to provide an improved circuit arrangement for the protection of an IGFET from overvoltages with avoidance of the disadvantages referred to. 
     A more particular object is to provide a circuit arrangement of this description effective with incoming signals of bipolar character. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A circuit arrangement according to our invention comprises a processing stage with two branches respectively including a first and second IGFET which are connected in cascade across a direct-current supply. The first IGFET has a source connected to one supply terminal, generally the one which is joined to the common substrate, while the second IGFET has a gate and a drain connected to the other supply terminal; a drain of the first IGFET and a source of the second IGFET are jointly connected to an output terminal energizable with outgoing signals which are derived from bipolar incoming signals arriving at an input terminal. A gate of the first IGFET is connected to a tap of a voltage divider which is inserted between the input terminal and a junction of the two branches, this junction having a mean voltage intermediate the potentials of the two supply terminals; in a quiescent state, in which that voltage divider is not traversed by any current, the mean voltage of the branch junction is also present at the divider tap connected to the gate of the first IGFET which thereby establishes a predetermined reference potential on the output terminal connected to its drain. A protective diode is inserted, as known per se, between the input terminal and the supply terminal tied to the source of the first IGFET so as to be reverse-biased in the quiescent state and to break down in the presence of an abnormally high incoming signal of a certain polarity, namely the polarity of the other supply terminal which is tied to the source of the second IGFET; in the embodiments particularly described hereinafter, that polarity is assumed to be positive (as is that of the mean voltage at the branch junction). An ancillary IGFET has a source connected to the input terminal, a drain connected to that other supply terminal and a gate connected to a point of biasing potential which maintains this IGFET nonconductive except in the presence of an incoming signal of the opposite polarity (negative in the embodiments described hereinafter) approaching a forward-conduction threshold of the protective diode; the conductivity of the ancillary IGFET upon such approach is sufficient to prevent that threshold from being reached. 
     The mean voltage of the branch junction, which is also present on the input terminal in the quiescent state, allows the input voltage to swing in the direction of the opposite polarity (negative) with an amplitude somewhat exceeding that mean voltage before the protective diode becomes forwardly conductive. We therefore may peg the gate potential of the ancillary IGFET to the mean voltage of the branch junction which preferably is made to equal the reference potential established in the quiescent state at the output terminal. Such equality will exist if that branch junction coincides with the source/drain junction of the cascaded first and second IGFETs or if, according to a further feature of our invention, two other cascaded IGFETs substantially duplicating same are connected in parallel therewith across the supply terminals as more fully described hereinafter. The pair or pairs of cascaded IGFETs, the ancillary IGFET and the protective diode can be readily integrated into a compact unit with a common substrate without requiring any additional manufacturing step after the formation of the several constituents by the usual ion-implantation technique. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     The above and other features of our invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a pair of cascaded IGFETs and a protective diode conventionally associated therewith in an integrated module which is capacitively coupled to a generator of binary-coded bipolar input signals; 
     FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram similar to that of FIG. 1 but showing the module expanded to include an ancillary IGFET according to our present improvement; and 
     FIG. 3 is another circuit diagram similar to that of FIG. 1, showing a second pair of cascaded IGFETs included in the module. 
    
    
     SPECIFIC DESCRIPITON 
     FIG. 1 shows a prior-art circuit arrangement of the type to which our invention is applicable. Two cascaded IGFETs T 1  and T 2  are incorporated in a silicon substrate SB of p-type conductivity connected to the grounded negative terminal of a d-c supply also having a positive terminal +V DD . IGFET T 1  has a source grounded at the negative supply terminal and a drain forming a junction J with a source of IGFET T 2 , that junction being directly connected to an output terminal S. A drain and an insulated gate of IGFET T 2  are tied to the positive supply terminal +V DD  whereby this IGFET is operated as an enhancement-type n-channel field-effect transistor. This IGFET acting as a load of main transistor T 1 , could also be operated in the depletion mode if its gate were connected to junction J (i.e. to its drain electrode) rather than to supply terminal +V DD  (i.e. to its source electrode). The drain and source electrodes of the IGFETs are formed by n-doped enclaves in the substrate overlain by metallic plates as is well known in the art. 
     An input terminal N is connected to junction J by way of a voltage divider consisting of two series resistors R 1  and R 2 , a tap M formed by the junction of these resistors being tied to the gate of IGFET T 1  which is thereby also operated as an enhancement-type n-channel field-effect transistor. A protective diode DI has its cathode connected to input terminal N and has its anode grounded so as to be reverse-biased in a quiescent state in which no current traverses the voltage divider R 1 , R 2  whereby points N, M, J and S are all at the same mean positive voltage constituting a reference potential V R  ; with proper design of the circuit elements, this reference potential V R  --lying substantially midway between ground and the potential of supply terminal +V DD  --defines a point of maximum gain for the amplifier stage constituted by the two IGFETs. There is also indicated at C 2  a virtual capacitor which lies in parallel with diode DI and represents the input capacitance of the integrated circuitry constituted by the aforedescribed components incorporated in substrate SB. Other components also integrated into that substrate, driven by outgoing signals on output terminal S, have not been illustrated. 
     Input terminal N is coupled through a capacitor C 1  to a generator G of incoming signals having an internal impedance Z, as diagrammatically illustrated. Generator G, when active, is assumed to emit bipolar pulses which may widely vary in amplitude and which, when of positive polarity, may exceed the Zener threshold of diode DI when added to the reference potential V R . Such a breakdown of diode DI will protect the IGFET T 1  against excessive positive gate voltages; however, negative pulses surpassing that reference potential may drive the diode DI into forward conduction, thereby resulting in the injection of minority carriers (electrons) into the substrate with the art-recognized disadvantages discussed for example in the above-cited U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,159. A typical instance of such a generator of amplitude-varying pulses would be a device for the remote control of a television receiver, that device comprising a photoelectric transducer responsive to infrared rays emitted by a manual controller; the transducer works into a preamplifier producing pulses whose amplitudes depend on the distance from the controller and which constitute a binary code identifying a selected TV channel. The cascaded IGFETs T 1  and T 2  form a self-biasing amplifier/limiter and inverter stage feeding nonillustrated further stages which operate the channel selector of the TV receiver. 
     In accordance with our present improvement, and as illustrated in FIG. 2, the circuitry of FIG. 1 is supplemented by an ancillary IGFET T x  having its source tied to input terminal N, its drain tied to positive supply terminal +V DD  and its gate connected to a point of fixed potential V p . The latter potential is so chosen that IGFET T x  will be normally cut off and will conduct only when the voltage of terminal N goes sufficiently negative to approach the forward-conduction threshold of diode DI. On being thus turned on by a voltage difference V P  -V T , with V T  representing a threshold voltage appearing on input terminal N, IGFET T x  will be sufficiently conductive to prevent the input voltage from reaching a forward-conduction threshold of diode DI. This will clip an incoming negative-going pulse but will not mutilate a received binary code as long as the clipping level lies sufficiently below reference level V R  to give rise to a definite positive-going pulse on output terminal S. Since diode DI will not become forwardly conducting until the input voltage has gone negative with reference to ground, a suitable negative swing of that input voltage will be available by making the gate voltage V P  equal to the reference potential V R . 
     In FIG. 3 we have illustrated a modification of the circuit arrangement of FIG. 2 by which such equality of voltages V P  and V R  is achieved. In this system a second pair of cascaded IGFETs T 3  and T 4  are connected in parallel with IGFETs T 1  and T 2  between ground and supply terminal +V DD  ; IGFET T 3 , which is a substantial duplicate of IGFET T 1 , has its drain connected at a point P to the source of IGFET T 4  which is a substantial duplicate of IGFET T 2  and, like the latter, has its gate and drain connected to the terminal +V DD . The gate of IGFET T 3 , however, is connected to the fixed-potential point P which constitutes another junction, separated from junction J, between circuit branches T 1 , T 3  and T 2 , T 4 . Voltage divider R 1 , R 2  terminates in this instance at junction point P which is also connected to the gate of ancillary IGFET T x  so as to provide same with the biasing potential V P  =V R . The gate of IGFET T 1  is connected, as before, to the tap M of the voltage divider. 
     In the quiescent state, in which no current passes through resistors R 1  and R 2 , input terminal N and tap M are at the same biasing potential V P  so that the gates of IGFETs T 1  and T 3  also have the same bias. Thanks to the substantial identity of the two IGFET pairs, junction J is maintained in that instance at the potential V P  =V R  which is also present on output terminal S. 
     It will be understood that, with suitable inversion of polarity of the power supply, the conductivity types of the substrate and of the source and drain electrodes of the several IGFETs as well as of the p/n junction forming the diode DI can be interchanged.