A new design of silicon controlled recitfiers (SCR)-type electrostatic-discharge (ESD) protection circuit has been presented. In the design we vary the number of stacked diodes in series with the npn transistor in the SCR to control the holding voltage. Experimental and analysis of the transient and steady-stats I-V characteristics of SCR-type ESD protection circuits with variable holding voltage have been carried out. It has been experimentally verified that the holding voltage of SCR can be increased by increasing the number of stacked diodes and it call be designed to avoid accidential latchup caused by system overshooting.