Integrated circuits and integrated circuit devices, especially sensitive circuits and devices in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (herein, “CMOS”) technology, may be protected against defects caused by an electrical overstress. An electrical overstress, for example, may cause a voltage that causes a current to flow through a dielectric between two surfaces, where the dielectric is designed to prevent a current flow between the two surfaces, resulting in a short circuit. Such a short circuit may damage the gate oxide/diffusion, the metal layers, or the contacts of the integrated circuit, or cause a junction breakdown, damaging the inter layer junction of a semiconductor. Further, other types of circuits, both digital and analog, require similar protection from electrical overstress.