Patent attributes
The present invention provides an ESD device for protecting thin oxide layers in transistors or capacitors in an integrated circuit. In one embodiment, the ESD device includes a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR), the SCR including a PNP bipolar transistor and a NPN bipolar transistor. The ESD device further includes first and second trigger devices coupled to the SCR and configured to simultaneously turn on the PNP bipolar transistor and the NPN bipolar transistor in response to an ESD pulse on the ESD device. The base of the NPN bipolar transistor is floating to allow a first external resistor to be connected between the base and emitter of the NPN bipolar transistor. A second external resistor can be connected between the base and emitter of the PNP bipolar transistor.
