Patent ID: 7405914
Filing Date: 2008-07-29
Classification: H01L

Abstract:
1. A protection circuit for protecting an electronic circuit from an electrostatic discharge (ESD) event, the electronic circuit, in operation, being supplied a supply voltage via a supply voltage terminal, with respect to a reference voltage, the reference voltage being supplied via a reference voltage terminal, the protection circuit comprising: a set of at least two bipolar transistors coupled in series, each two neighboring transistors being coupled with respective first connections between a collector of one transistor and an emitter of the other transistor, the set of at least two transistors being further coupled with the supply voltage terminal and the reference voltage terminal, a first of the transistors being directly coupled with the supply voltage terminal and a second of the transistors being directly coupled with the reference voltage terminal, wherein the bases of every two neighboring transistors are interconnected by respective second connections, wherein the second connections between the bases each consist of two resistances coupled in series through respective third connections, and wherein respective fourth connections couple the respective first and third connections.