Patent ID: 7817386

Claim:
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising: a detection unit configured in a first power domain; and a discharging unit configured in a second power domain and coupled to the detection unit, the discharging unit being turned off during normal power operations and triggered by the detection unit in an ESD event, wherein the first power domain has a first positive power line and a first negative power line, and the detection unit comprises: a capacitor and a resistor formed in series and coupled between the first positive power line and the first negative power line; and a P-type MOSFET, a gate terminal of the P-type MOSFET being coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor; a source terminal of the P-type MOSFET being coupled to the first positive power line; a drain terminal of the P-type MOSFET being coupled to and used for triggering the discharging unit.