Normally, the defined requirements for a Quad or Octal Driverare very much affected by the type of protection circuits used onthe chip. Fault protection for an open or shorted load is an interactivefunction, making it important in the decision process ofspecifying the proper IC for an application. The various types ofon-chip features may include protection for over-current, overvoltageand over-temperature. The response action to a faultcondition may be either limiting or shutdown. Shutdown methodsmay include hysteresis and may require a logic reset. On-chipclamp diodes provide current steering to an external zener diodeclamp as over-voltage protection from inductive switching pulses.Internal Zener diodes are also used to limit the output voltage onthe output driver of the IC. In addition, fault detection is availablewith diagnostic feedback, including serial bus (SPI) control. All ofthe protection features noted are represented in the Table 1 listingof Quad and Octal Low Side Drivers: