Semiconductor device having improved electrostatic discharge protection

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a source region in a substrate;
• a drain region in the substrate and comprising a plurality of first drain segments and one or more second drain segments;
• a trench isolation structure extending into the substrate, adjacent to the drain region;
• and
• a gate stack over the substrate, between and bordering the source region and the drain region,
• wherein the plurality of first drain segments share a first doping type, and are spaced from each other by and are doped differently than the one or more second drain segments, and wherein the one or more second drain segments have individual sidewalls facing a first direction and contacting the trench isolation structure.

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a source region in a substrate;
• a drain region in the substrate and comprising a plurality of first drain segments and a plurality of second drain segments;
• and
• a gate stack over the substrate, between and bordering the source region and the drain region laterally in a cross-sectional plane,
• wherein the plurality of first drain segments share a first doping type and are doped differently than the plurality of second drain segments, each of which is between and borders two of the plurality of first drain segments in the cross-sectional plane, and wherein the plurality of first drain segments have individual widths in the cross-sectional plane that are different.