Non-breakdown triggered electrostatic discharge protection circuit for an integrated circuit and method therefor

摘要

A non-breakdown triggered electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit (11) having a voltage divider circuit and a SCR (22) protects an integrated circuit from an ESD event. The voltage divider includes a capacitor (17) and a resistor (18). The voltage divider connects to a pad of an integrated circuit and generates a trigger voltage for enabling the SCR (22) when an ESD event is applied to the pad. A worst case ESD voltage transient is used to calculate a trigger voltage for the SCR (22). The trigger voltage is selected at a voltage below where damage to the integrated circuit occurs. The SCR (22) is designed to have a turn on time constant that prevents normal signal levels from triggering the SCR (22).