Patent ID: 7929264

Claim:
An electro-static discharge protection device having a power clamp unit providing a discharge path between a pair of power lines, the power clamp unit comprising: a trigger unit that generates a trigger voltage corresponding to electrostatic discharge accumulated in a first power line; and a power clamp device that is switched by the trigger voltage to form the discharge path to discharge electrostatic discharge in the first power line to a second power line, wherein the trigger unit comprises: a driving device including a chain of one or more diodes connected in series; a current amplifying device including a bipolar transistor whose emitter is connected to the first voltage line and collector is connected to the bulk, wherein the driving device is coupled to only a base of the bipolar transistor, and wherein the power clamp comprises a resistor for dropping the trigger voltage to apply to the bulk, and the resistor is coupled between a collector of the bipolar transistor and the second power line.