Abstract: An on-chip electrostatic discharge（ESD） protection scheme is demonstrated for an emerging technology of microelectromechanical systems（MEMS）-based embedded sensor（ES） system-on-a-chip（SoC）.The ESD protection scheme is implemented using ground-referenced multifinger thyristor-type devices optimized for 1) the input/output（I/O） protection,2) the power supply clamp,and 3) the internal sensors’ electrodes during the micromachining process.A multiply finger layout scheme was also developed to the ESD protection level under the constraint of chip size.The ESD protection design methodology was tested and verified at both the device and SoC levels,and its effectiveness and robustness have been illustrated.Experimental results showed that the SoC passed a 4.1 kV Human Body Model ESD stress with no latchup induced and a very low leakage current of 10-10 A.