Embodiments of an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device and a method for operating an ESD protection device are described. In one embodiment, an ESD protection device includes three or more bipolar transistors that are configured to shunt current between a first node and a second node in response to an ESD pulse received between the first and second nodes and a diode connected in series with the three or more bipolar transistors and one of the first and second nodes. Each of the three or more bipolar transistors includes a collector comprising collector components, an emitter comprising emitter components, and a base structure comprising a substrate region or an active region. The emitter components are alternately located with respect to the collector components. The substrate region or the active region surrounds the collector components and the emitter components. Other embodiments are also described.