Active-source-pump (ASP) technique for ESD design window expansion and ultra-thin gate oxide protection in sub-90nm technologies

Author

Mergens, Markus ; Armer, Jane ; Jozwiak, Phil ; Keppens, Bart ; De Ranter, F. ; Verhaege, Koen ; Kumar, Rakesh

Author_Institution

Sarnoff Eur., Gistel, Belgium

fYear

2004

fDate

3-6 Oct. 2004

Firstpage

251

Lastpage

254

Abstract

This paper presents a novel active-source-pump (ASP) circuit technique to significantly lower the ESD sensitivity of ultrathin gate inputs in advanced sub-90nm CMOS technologies. As demonstrated by detailed experimental analysis, an ESD design window expansion of more than 100% can be achieved. This revives conventional ESD solutions for ultrasensitive input protection also enabling low-capacitance RF protection schemes with a high ESD design flexibility at IC-level. ASP IC application examples, and the impact of ASP on normal RF operation performance, are discussed.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; dielectric thin films; electrostatic discharge; integrated circuit design; radiofrequency integrated circuits; semiconductor device breakdown; 90 nm; CMOS technologies; ESD design window expansion; RF-IO; active-source-pump technique; gate input ESD sensitivity; low-capacitance RF protection schemes; oxide breakdown; ultra-thin gate oxide protection; Application specific processors; CMOS technology; Circuits; Clamps; Electrostatic discharge; Power system transients; Protection; Radio frequency; Space vector pulse width modulation; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, 2004. Proceedings of the IEEE 2004

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8495-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CICC.2004.1358790

Filename

1358790