Electrostatic discharge protection circuit and electrostatic discharge protection method of a semiconductor memory device

摘要

An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit protects a gate oxide of elements in an internal circuit against ESD. During an ESD test, if the sum of driving voltages of ESD protectors connected between a power pad and a ground pad is higher than the gate oxide breakdown voltage of elements in the internal circuit, the structure of the ESD protector is changed or another ESD protector is additionally provided so as to protect the gate oxide of the elements in the internal circuit against ESD.