Avalanche breakdown diodes fabricated in a proprietary silicon avalanche technology protect each I/O pin to provide a high level of protection for electronic equipment that may experience destructive electrostatic discharges (ESD). These robust diodes can safely absorb repetitive ESD strikes at ±30kV (contact and air discharge, IEC 61000- 4-2) without performance degradation. Additionally, each diode can safely dissipate 80A (SC1105) of 8/20μs surge current (IEC 61000-4-5 2nd edition) with very low clamping voltages.