Patent ID: 8218277

Claim:
A system for protecting metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) output drivers within an integrated circuit (IC) from an electrostatic discharge (ESD) event, the system comprising: a first MOSFET output driver and a second MOSFET output driver disposed within a common IC diffusion material; and a contact ring disposed within the common IC diffusion material and arranged along an outer edge of a perimeter surrounding the first MOSFET output driver and the second MOSFET output driver, wherein a centroid of each MOSFET output driver is common with a centroid of the perimeter surrounding the first MOSFET output driver and the second MOSFET output driver, wherein each MOSFET output driver has a value of substrate resistance (R sub ) that initiates bipolar snapback in the MOSFET output driver at which an ESD event occurs, and wherein the value of R sub depends upon a composite distance from the centroid of each MOSFET output driver to the contact ring.