Silicon-Controlled Rectifier for Electrostatic Discharge Protection Solutions With Minimal Snapback and Reduced Overshoot Voltage

    Authors

    R. C. Sun; Z. X. Wang; M. Klebanov; W. Liang; J. J. Liou;D. G. Liu

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    IEEE Electron Device Lett.

    Keywords

    ESD; direct-connected; SCR; stacking; overshoot; SCR-BASED DEVICES; ESD PROTECTION; TECHNOLOGIES; DESIGN; SPEED; Engineering, Electrical & Electronic

    Abstract

    An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection structure constructed by the stacking of multiple anode gate-cathode gate directly connected silicon-controlled rectifiers (DCSCRs), fabricated in a 0.18-mu m CMOS technology is reported in this letter. Two embedded diodes in the DCSCR dictate the turn-ON mechanism and hence give rise to a trigger voltage equal to twice the diode's turn-ON voltage. This approach enables the DCSCR to offer a diode-like transmission line pulsing IV characteristic with a minimal snapback and a SCR-like high-ESD robustness. At 25 degrees C, DCSCR has an acceptable nanoampere-level leakage current. Besides, it is verified that the DCSCR can significantly reduce overshoot voltage when stressed by very-fast-rising pulses. As such, an ESD clamp constructed by stacking a selected number of DCSCRs can offer a flexible trigger/holding voltage and is suitable for low and medium voltage ESD protection applications.

    Journal Title

    Ieee Electron Device Letters

    Volume

    36

    Issue/Number

    5

    Publication Date

    1-1-2015

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    424

    Last Page

    426

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000353566300001

    ISSN

    0741-3106

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