Method and structure for external control of ESD protection in electronic circuits

摘要

A method and structure for external control of an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection of electronic devices. According to the structure, one or more shunt circuits are coupled to the electronic devices and one or more external contacts are coupled to the one or more shunt circuits. One or more power supplies are further coupled to the one or more shunt circuits prior to the shunt circuits being coupled to the electronic devices. According to the method, the one or more external contacts are operable to be used to perform one or more of: grounding one or more of the one or more external contacts coupled to the one or more shunt circuits, supplying one or more DC signals to one or more of the one or more shunt circuits via one or more of the one or more external contacts, and supplying one or more AC signals to one or more of the one or more shunt circuits via one or more of the one or more external contacts.