Maxim MAX30034 defibrillation protection device

The Maxim MAX30034 defibrillation protection device protects against defibrillation pulses and electrostatic discharge (ESD). It simplifies design, provides >75% space savings and trims the bill of materials while improving performance.

ECG input amplifiers must withstand high-voltage pulses for cardiac resuscitation. These pulses can easily damage the sensitive electronic circuitry which captures the millivolt level heart signals. Preventing this damage has required a three-layer, multicomponent approach combining a per-channel gas-discharge tube (GDT) and/or transient-voltage suppression (TVS) device, as well as ESD-protection diodes. Further, leakage current (a critical parameter) is relatively high, at about 1–2 nA.

The defibrillation protection device uses topology from an advanced semiconductor process to absorb and harmlessly redirect these high-energy pulses away from sensitive circuitry. This small and robust device needs only two external pairs of resistors for each channel to provide design simplicity, smaller overall size and lower leakage current.

The product replaces the primary-level GDTs and/or TVSs, as well as secondary-level ESD diodes which are designed for mandated circuit protection. The device can withstand over 100,000 defibrillation pulses without failure and still maintain a leakage current under 10 pA.

A single, tiny IC and two external resistor pairs per channel are all that is needed. Leakage current is 100 x less than GDT/TVS-based approaches even after 100,000 5 kV pulses. The product replaces complicated primary, secondary and ESD protection solutions for >75% space savings; 3 x 5 mm μMAX package (0 to 70°C operating temperature range).