Patent ID: 8345394

Claim:
An electro-static discharge (ESD) protection circuit for the switching node (SW) of a switching power converter which includes a high-side switching element connected between a supply voltage node and said SW node and a low-side switching element connected between said SW node and a common node, comprising: an ESD sense node which is different from said SW node; a current conduction path which couples an ESD event that occurs on said SW node to said ESD sense node; an ESD sensing circuit coupled to said ESD sense node and arranged to generate a trigger signal when an ESD event is sensed on said ESD sense node; a first logic gate arranged to keep said high-side switching element off when said trigger signal indicates that an ESD event is sensed; and a second logic gate arranged to cause said low-side switching element to turn on when said trigger signal indicates that an ESD event is sensed such that said low-side switching element provides a conductive discharge path between said SW node and said common node.