Single-gate-oxide power inverter and electrostatic discharge protection circuit

Abstract

An electrostatic discharge (ESD) circuit includes: a cascade of NMOS transistors including a first NMOS transistor operatively cascaded to a second NMOS transistor wherein the cascade of NMOS transistors is operatively coupled to a first bus that receives an ESD pulse signal; a first single-gate-oxide ESD control circuit coupled to the first NMOS transistor and configured to turn on the first NMOS transistor during an ESD event, the first single-gate-oxide control circuit coupled between the first bus at a first voltage and a first node at a second voltage, wherein the first voltage is higher than the second voltage; a second single-gate-oxide control circuit operatively coupled to the second NMOS transistor and configured to turn on the second NMOS transistor during an ESD event and to turn off the second NMOS transistor during a normal operation, wherein the second single-gate-oxide control circuit is coupled between the first node at the second voltage and a second bus at a ground voltage, wherein the second voltage is higher than the ground voltage; and a voltage divider circuit operatively coupled to the first bus at the first voltage and the second bus at the ground voltage, wherein the voltage divider circuit is operatively coupled to the first single-gate-oxide ESD control circuit and the second single-gate-oxide ESD control circuit at the first node.