A Novel Capacitance-Coupling-Triggered SCR for Low-Voltage ESD Protection Applications

Author

Li, Mingliang ; Dong, Shurong ; Liou, Juin J. ; Song, Bo ; Han, Yan

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf. Sci. & Electron. Eng., Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou, China

Volume

31

Issue

10

fYear

2010

Firstpage

1089

Lastpage

1091

Abstract

A novel capacitance-coupling-triggered silicon-controlled rectifier (CCTSCR) for on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is proposed and verified in a 65-nm logic CMOS process. The trigger voltage of the CCTSCR can be adjusted by using a variable coupling capacitor, and a low trigger voltage of 2.15 V can be achieved through increasing the coupling capacitance. Compared with the conventional diode-triggered SCR, the CCTSCR has a similar robustness but a lower leakage current, particularly at an elevated temperature. The CCTSCR is suitable for I/O ESD protection of low-voltage CMOS integrated circuits.

Keywords

CMOS logic circuits; capacitors; electrostatic discharge; thyristors; CMOS integrated circuit; capacitance-coupling-triggered silicon-controlled rectifier; coupling capacitance; logic CMOS process; on-chip electrostatic discharge protection; size 65 nm; variable coupling capacitor; voltage 2.15 V; CMOS logic circuits; CMOS process; Capacitance; Capacitors; Coupling circuits; Couplings; Electrostatic discharge; Leakage current; Logic gates; Low voltage; Protection; Rectifiers; Thyristors; Transient analysis; Capacitance coupling; electrostatic discharge (ESD); silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCR); trigger voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2010.2058844

Filename

5549845