On-chip electrostatic discharge （ESD） protection design has become an emerging challenge for radio-frequency （RF） integrated circuits （IC） design as IC technologies migrate into the very-deep-sub-micron （VDSM）...On-chip electrostatic discharge （ESD） protection design has become an emerging challenge for radio-frequency （RF） integrated circuits （IC） design as IC technologies migrate into the very-deep-sub-micron （VDSM） regime and RF ICs move into multi-GHz operations. The key problem originates from the complex interaction between the ESD protection circuitry and the core RF IC circuit under protection. This paper discusses the recent development in RF ESD protection research and design,outlining emerging challenges, new design methods,and novel RF ESD protection solutions.展开更多
A diode-triggered silicon controlled rectifier (DTSCR) is being developed as an electrostatic discharge (ESD) pro- tection device for low voltage applications. However, DTSCR leaks high current during normal operation...A diode-triggered silicon controlled rectifier (DTSCR) is being developed as an electrostatic discharge (ESD) pro- tection device for low voltage applications. However, DTSCR leaks high current during normal operation due to the Darlington effect of the triggering-assist diode string. In this study, two types of diode string triggered SCRs are designed for low leakage consideration; the modified diode string and composite polysilicon diode string triggered SCRs (MDTSCR & PDTSCR). Com- pared with the conventional DTSCR (CDTSCR), the MDTSCR has a much lower substrate leakage current with a relatively large silicon cost, and the PDTSCR has a much lower substrate leakage current with similar area and shows good leakage performance at a high temperature. Other DTSCR ESD properties are also investigated, especially regarding their layout, triggering voltage and failure current.展开更多
文摘On-chip electrostatic discharge （ESD） protection design has become an emerging challenge for radio-frequency （RF） integrated circuits （IC） design as IC technologies migrate into the very-deep-sub-micron （VDSM） regime and RF ICs move into multi-GHz operations. The key problem originates from the complex interaction between the ESD protection circuitry and the core RF IC circuit under protection. This paper discusses the recent development in RF ESD protection research and design,outlining emerging challenges, new design methods,and novel RF ESD protection solutions.
基金Project partially supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Nature Science Fund of China (Nos. Y107055 and Y1080546)the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC)
文摘A diode-triggered silicon controlled rectifier (DTSCR) is being developed as an electrostatic discharge (ESD) pro- tection device for low voltage applications. However, DTSCR leaks high current during normal operation due to the Darlington effect of the triggering-assist diode string. In this study, two types of diode string triggered SCRs are designed for low leakage consideration; the modified diode string and composite polysilicon diode string triggered SCRs (MDTSCR & PDTSCR). Com- pared with the conventional DTSCR (CDTSCR), the MDTSCR has a much lower substrate leakage current with a relatively large silicon cost, and the PDTSCR has a much lower substrate leakage current with similar area and shows good leakage performance at a high temperature. Other DTSCR ESD properties are also investigated, especially regarding their layout, triggering voltage and failure current.
