Electrostatic discharge protection circuit

Abstract

In the disclosure, an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit is coupled between a first power rail and a second power rail to discharge any ESD stress. The ESD protection circuit includes a detection circuit, a triggering circuit, and a dual silicon controlled rectifier (DSCR) device. When an ESD stresses is being applied to the first or second power rail, the detection circuit may first detect the ESD stresses and output a detection signal to the triggering circuit. The triggering circuit generates a triggering signal based on the detection signal and the polarity of the ESD stress. Then, the DSCR device is symmetrically triggered based on the triggering signal received at a common node between at least two transistors of the same type. The exemplary ESD protection circuit may be implemented in nanoscale manufactured integrated circuit and achieve good ESD robustness while maintaining low standby leakage current and relatively small silicon footprint.