A semiconductor structure for electrostatic discharge protection is
presented. The semiconductor structure comprises a grounded gate nMOS
(GGNMOS) having a substrate, a gate electrode, a source region and a
drain region. A plurality of contact plugs is formed on the source and
drain side. A plurality of first level vias is electrically coupled to
the GGNMOS and has a substantially asymmetrical layout in the source and
drain regions. A second level via(s) re-routes the ESD current to the
desired first level vias. The uniformity of the current flow in the
GGNMOS is improved.