Bidirectional ESD Power Clamp

A bidirectional ESD power clamp for protecting a circuit against an ESD transient occurring between a first node and a second node of the circuit, the power clamp comprising:

• an insulator substrate;
• a semiconductor structure provided over the insulator substrate, the structure having a conductive path connected between the first and second nodes and having a triggering node via which the conductive path can be triggered from a non-conducting state to a conducting state, said semiconductor structure being configured to conduct ESD currents via the conductive path in a first direction from the first node to the second node while in said conducting state and to conduct ESD currents via the conductive path in a second direction from the second node to the first node while in said conducting state;
• an ESD transient detection circuit connected between the first and second nodes and connected to the triggering node and comprising a first part and a second part, the first part configured to detect an occurrence of a first ESD transient on said first node and for triggering said semiconductor structure via said triggering node upon detection of the first ESD transient, and the second part configured to detect an occurrence of a second ESD transient on said second node and for triggering said semiconductor structure via said triggering node upon such detection of the second ESD transient.