학술논문

Speed optimized diode-triggered SCR (DTSCR) for RF ESD protection of ultra-sensitive IC nodes in advanced technologies
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability IEEE Trans. Device Mater. Relib. Device and Materials Reliability, IEEE Transactions on. 5(3):532-542 Sep, 2005
Subject
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Diodes
Thyristors
Radio frequency
Electrostatic discharge
Protection
Radiofrequency integrated circuits
Heterojunction bipolar transistors
Voltage
Silicon germanium
Germanium silicon alloys
BiCMOS
CMOS
electrostatic discharge (ESD)
gate-oxide protection
radio frequency (RF)
SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT)
silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR)
trigger speed
Language
ISSN
1530-4388
1558-2574
Abstract
A novel diode-triggered silicon-controlled rectifier (DTSCR) (Mergens et al., 2003) electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection element is introduced for low-voltage application (signal and supply voltages /spl les/ 1.8 V) with extremely narrow ESD design margins. Trigger-voltage engineering in conjunction with fast and efficient SCR voltage clamping is applied for the protection of ultrasensitive circuit nodes, such as SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) base regions (e.g., f/sub Tmax/=45 GHz in BiCMOS 0.35-/spl mu/m LNA input) and thin gate oxides (e.g., t/sub ox/=1.7 nm in CMOS 0.09-/spl mu/m high-speed input). Ultrathin gate protection requires a reinforced trigger diode chain to avoid SCR trigger-speed issues resulting in critical trigger-voltage overshoots for very fast ESD transients such as a charged device model (CDM). SCR integration can be realized based on parasitic n-p-n/p-n-p inherent to CMOS devices or can alternatively be implemented based on vertical high-speed SiGe HBT with adjacent p+ SCR anode.