An electrostatic discharge protection device and methodology are provided for protecting semiconductor devices against electrostatic discharge events by temporarily forming during normal (non-ESD) operation two more inversion layers (112, 113) in a first well region (104) that is disposed between anode and cathode regions (105, 106) in response to one or more bias voltages (G1, G2) that are close to Vdd in order to reduce leakage current and capacitance during normal operation (non-ESD) condition. During an electrostatic discharge event, the bias voltages can be removed (e.g., decoupled or set to 0V) to eliminate the inversion layers, thereby forming a semiconductor resistor for shunting the ESD current.