Patent ID: 7968906

Claim:
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, comprising: an ESD detection circuit coupled to a first power rail and a second power rail and having an output terminal, wherein the ESD detection circuit is configured, upon detecting an ESD condition, to output an indication of the ESD condition on the output terminal; a first lateral bipolar junction transistor (BJT) including: a first collector region of a first implantation type coupled to the first power rail, wherein the first collector region is in contact with a substrate of a second implantation type that is different from the first implantation type; a first emitter region of the first implantation type coupled to the second power rail, wherein the first emitter region is in contact with the substrate; and a first base region in contact with the first collector region and the first emitter region, wherein the first base region is constituted entirely of the substrate, wherein neither a field oxide structure nor an STI structure is formed between the first collector region and the first emitter region and wherein no gate structure is formed directly above the first base region; and a second lateral BJT including: a second collector region of the first implantation type coupled to the first power rail, wherein the second collector region is in contact with the substrate; a second emitter region of the first implantation type coupled to the second power rail, wherein the second emitter region is in contact with the substrate; and a second base region in contact with the second collector region and the second emitter region, wherein the second base region is constituted entirely of the substrate, wherein neither a field oxide structure nor an STI structure is formed between the second collector region and the second emitter region and wherein no gate structure is formed directly above the second base region; wherein the ESD detection circuit further includes: a common region of the second implantation type in contact with the substrate, wherein the common region is electrically coupled to the output terminal of the ESD detection circuit; and a first shallow trench isolation (STI) structure located between the first collector region and the second collector region and surrounding the common region; wherein the first lateral BJT and the second lateral BJT are configured, upon receiving the indication of the ESD condition, to trigger.