Protection circuit for use in semiconductor integrated circuit device

Abstract

A protection circuit is inserted between a signal input pad and an internal circuit. The protection circuit includes a parasitic bipolar transistor which is obtained by forming high-impurity concentration semiconductor regions in the major-surface region of a substrate. In practice, it is hard to provide a parasitic bipolar transistor of a sufficiently large size, since the reduction of the size of a chip is a recent trend. With this in mind, a third semiconductor region serving as an electron-trapping region is formed in a region outside of the location where the parasitic bipolar transistor is formed. If an excessive voltage produced by ESD or the like is applied to the pad, and the excessive voltage uncontrollable by the parasitic bipolar transistor, the third semiconductor region absorbs the excessive voltage. In particular, where the current capacity of the parasitic bipolar transistor is small, the third semiconductor region reliably prevents electrostatic destruction of a circuit element. Accordingly, the protection circuit enables the parasitic bipolar transistor to be reduced in size, thus contributing to miniaturization of a chip. Moreover, the protection circuit is reliable in operation.