ESD protection clamp with active feedback and mis-trigger immunity in 28nm CMOS process

Data Converters in 28nm CMOS processes have the need to support higher voltage power supply domains in addition to the more traditional core and I/O voltages. In this work a new supply clamp architecture is proposed which ensures a reliable low leakage performance at the higher supply voltages (2.5V/3.3V). An active feedback network is designed into the supply clamp architecture to ensure uniform clamping during the duration of the ESD event. Miss-trigger immunity and over voltage protection is additionally incorporated to ensure reliable functionality up to 3.3V and across all the process corners.