Patent attributes
A high-voltage switching device that can be fabricated in a standard low-voltage process, such as CMOS, and more specifically SOI CMOS. Embodiments include integrated circuits that combine, in a unitary structure, a FET device and an integrated, co-fabricated modulated resistance region (MRR) controlled by one or more Voltage-Drop Modulation Gates (VDMGs). The VDMGs are generally biased independently of the gate of the FET device, and in such a way as to protect each VDMG from excessive and potentially destructive voltages. In a first embodiment, an integrated circuit high voltage switching device includes a transistor structure including a source, a gate, and an internal drain; an MRR connected to the internal drain of the transistor structure; at least one VDMG that controls the resistance of the MRR; and a drain electrically connected to the MRR. Each VDMG at least partially depletes the MRR upon application of a bias voltage.