Patent ID: 8637899

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a substrate of a first conductivity type; a first isolation region disposed on the substrate of a second conductivity type that is opposite to the first conductivity type; a second isolation region disposed on the first isolation region of the first conductivity type; an epitaxial layer disposed on the substrate of the first conductivity type; a thyristor region disposed on the epitaxial layer, the thyristor region comprising a thyristor gate region, a thyristor anode region, a thyristor cathode region, and a thyristor cathode-gate resistance-control region; the thyristor anode region being coupled to an input/output voltage terminal, the thyristor cathode region and the cathode-gate resistance-control region being coupled to a first voltage source terminal, a first decoupling component region comprising a first decoupling component anode region at least partially abutting a first decoupling component cathode region, wherein the first decoupling component anode region is coupled to the first voltage source terminal, and wherein the first decoupling component cathode region is coupled to the input/output voltage terminal; and a second decoupling component region comprising a second decoupling component anode region at least partially abutting a second decoupling component cathode region, wherein the second decoupling component anode region is coupled to the first voltage source terminal, and wherein the second decoupling component cathode region is coupled to a second voltage source terminal.