Patent ID: 8913358

Claim:
An ESD module comprising: an ESD circuit, the ESD circuit having a pad terminal a low power source terminal; a latch-up (LU) control circuit, the LU control circuit includes a first LU input terminal coupled to a high power source and an LU output terminal coupled to the ESD circuit; and first and second operating modes for the ESD module, wherein in the first operating mode, the LU control circuit is deactivated and the ESD circuit has a first triggering current I t1 which is less than 100 mA, and in the second operating mode, the LU control circuit is activated and the ESD circuit has a second triggering current I t2 which is greater than 100 mA to prevent latch up; and wherein the LU control circuit includes an LU control input portion having first and second inverters coupled in series, the second inverter output serving as an output terminal of the LU control input portion, an LU control output portion having a transistor with a first terminal coupled to the high power source, a second terminal coupled to the LU output terminal and a gate to terminal coupled to the output terminal of the LU control input portion, and in the second operating mode, a second operating mode current path is created between the pad terminal, the LU output terminal and the high power source.