Summary of HV power ICs protecting circuit design

Power IC (PIC) is a special kind of IC that is difficult in design and fabrication. But it has found rapid growth in recent years as a result of an ever-increasing market demand. More and more functions are added into Power IC. High voltage and large current are common working conditions in PIC, so protecting circuits are very important in PIC. Protecting circuits can be classified according to their functions into groups such as overcurrent protection circuit, over-heat protection circuit, over/under voltage protection circuits and so on. They take up a sizable portion in area of power IC chip, and, therefore, are of great importance in power IC design. This paper will give the insight look at some typical and novel protection circuits based on an analysis of some new generation products of high-voltage power ICs.