Patent ID: 7593204

Claim:
A circuit providing electrostatic discharge (ESD) surge protection fabricated in pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) technology, comprising: a main protection sub-circuit including: a depletion-mode field effect transistor (D-Mode FET) adapted to turn on when triggered during an ESD surge event, wherein a drain terminal of the D-Mode FET is connected to a signal line to be protected during the ESD surge event; and at pinch-off diode stack connected in series and oriented in a forward biased configuration and including at least a first pinch-off diode and a second pinch-off diode, where an anode of the first pinch-off diode is connected to a source terminal of the D-Mode FET and a cathode of the second pinch-off diode is connected to a ground plane; and a trigger sub-circuit connected between the signal line to be protected and the ground plane and adapted to detect the ESD surge event and to trigger the main protection sub-circuit during the ESD surge event by increasing a voltage at a gate terminal of the D-Mode FET.