Patent ID: 10354994

Abstract:
Aspects disclosed herein include electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection in an electronic switching circuit. An electronic switching circuit includes switching circuitry configured to provide interconnectivity between a common port in at least one common branch and an input/output (I/O) port in at least one I/O branch. The common branch and the I/O branch each include a blocking capacitor element that is inherently incapable for ESD discharging. As such, an ESD clamp is disposed in parallel to the blocking capacitor element to provide a low-impedance ESD discharging path around the blocking capacitor element. By disposing the ESD clamp in parallel to the blocking capacitor element, it is possible to minimize detrimental parasitic effects of the ESD clamp, thus improving performance and reliability of the electronic switching circuit, especially for high power switching circuits such as a radio frequency (RF) switching circuits.