Electrostatic discharge input and power clamp circuit for high cutoff frequency technology radio frequency (RF) applications

摘要

A SiGe ESD (electrostatic discharge) power clamp circuit having a forward biased trigger device fabricated in a given technology and a clamp transistor preferably comprising a high frequency cutoff SiGe npn transistor, wherein the trigger device has a turn-on voltage which is below the Johnson Limit breakdown voltage of the highest frequency device fabricated in the given technology.