SCR 器件在深亚微米CMOS静电保护电路中的应用

:CMOS工艺发展到深亚微米阶段,芯片的静电放电(ESD)保护能力受到了更大的限制.因此,对ESD保护的要求也更加严格,需要采取更加有效而且可靠的ESD保护措施.针对近年来SCR器件更加广泛地被采用到CMOS静电保护电路中的情况,总结了SCR保护电路发展过程中各种电路的工作机理.旨在为集成电路设计人员提供ESD保护方面的设计思路以及努力方向.     

基于SCR的双向ESD保护器件研究

可控硅整流器件(SCR)结构用于集成电路的静电放电(ESD)保护具有提高保护效率,减小芯片面积和降低寄生参数的优点.对基于SCR的双向ESD保护器件进行了研究;建立了一种ESD保护器件仿真设计平台,对该器件的结构、关键参数和性能进行了系统的仿真和优化.得到的改进器件不仅对ESD人体模型(HBM)的保护性能好,引入电路的寄生效应小,而且ESD保护的各关键性能参数也可以方便地进行调整.     

基于SCR的ESD保护电路防闩锁设计

SCR器件作为目前单位面积效率最高的ESD保护器件,被广泛研究并应用到实际电路中.SCR所具有的低保持电压特性可以带来很高的ESD性能,但同时也会导致闩锁.文章从提高保持电压和触发电流这两方面入手,研究在实际电路应用中如何防止ESD保护电路发生闩锁.     

2.4GHz低噪声放大器的全芯片ESD保护设计

设计并流片验证了一种0.18μmRFCMOS工艺的2.4GHz低噪声放大器的全芯片静电放电(ESD)保护方案。对于射频(RF)I/O口的ESD防护,主要对比了二极管、可控硅(SCR)以及不同版图的互补型SCR,经流片与测试,发现岛屿状互补型SCR对I/O端口具有很好的ESD防护综合性能。对于电源口的ESD防护,主要研究了不同触发方式的ESD保护结构,结果表明,RCMOS触发SCR结构(RCMOS-SCR)具有良好的ESD鲁棒性和开启速度。基于上述结构的全芯片ESD保护设计,RF I/O口采用岛屿状布局的互补SCR结构的ESD防护设计,该ESD防护电路引入0.16dB的噪声系数和176fF的寄生电容,在人体模型(HBM)下防护能力可达6kV;电源口采用了RCMOS-SCR,实现了5kV HBM的ESD保护能力,该设计方案已经在有关企业得到应用。     

SCR器件在CMOS静电保护电路中的应用

静电放电(ESD)对CMOS电路的可靠性构成了很大威胁。随着CMOS电路集成度的不断提高，其对ESD保护的要求也更加严格。针对近年来SCR器件更加广泛地被采用到CMOS静电保护电路中的情况，文章总结了SCR保护电路发展过程中各种电路的工作机理。旨在为集成电路设计人员提供ESD保护方面的设计思路以及努力方向。     

应用于高压接口电路的SCR ESD保护研究

SCR是ESD保护器件中最具有面积优势的一种。提出一种应用于高压接口电路的SCR ESD保护结构,同时避免了发生闩锁的风险。采用0.5μm BCD工艺设计,可达8000 V人体模型ESD能力,其维持电压可以达到28 V以上。     

一种用于双极电路ESD保护的SCR结构

针对目前双极电路的ESD保护需求,结合双极电路的特点和制造工艺,设计了一种可控硅整流器(SCR)结构.使用器件仿真工具MEDICI,对器件的结构参数进行了优化设计,得到的ESD电压大于3 kV,很好地满足了设计要求.     

用于双极电路ESD保护的SCR结构设计失效分析

针对目前双极电路的ESD保护需求,引入SCR结构对芯片进行双极电路ESD保护。通过一次流片测试,发现加入SCR结构的电路芯片失效,SCR结构的I-V特性曲线未达到要求。从设计问题和工艺偏差两方面入手,分析了失效原因,通过模拟仿真,验证了失效是因为在版图设计时为节省版图面积,将结构P阱中NEMIT扩散区域边上用来箝位的电极开孔去掉造成的,并非工艺偏差导致的。通过二次流片测试,验证了失效原因分析的正确性,SCR器件结构抗ESD电压大于6kV,很好地满足了设计要求。     

CMOS集成电路中ESD保护技术研究

分析ESD失效的原因和失效模式,针对亚微米CMOS工艺对器件ESD保护能力的降低,从工艺、器件、电路三个层次对提高ESD保护能力的设计思路进行论述。工艺层次上通过增加ESD注入层和硅化物阻挡层实现ESD能力的提高;器件方面可针对电路的特点,选择合适的器件(如MOS,SCR,二极管及电阻)达到电路需要的ESD保护能力;电路方面采用栅耦和实现功能较强的ESD保护。     

亚微米CMOS集成电路的ESD保护新结构

本文主要介绍几种新型的ESD保护结构,包括互补SCR结构,双寄生SCR结构,低触发电压,高触发电流的横向SCR结构等,利用这些结构可以对CMOS集电路的输入／输出进行有效地ESD保护。     

A low-voltage triggering SCR for on-chip ESD protection at outputand input pads

A novel silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) structure for on-chip protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD) stress at output or input pads is presented. The SCR switches to an ON state at a trigger voltage determined by the gate length of an incorporated nMOS-like structure. Thus, the new SCR can be designed to consistently trigger at a voltage low enough to protect nMOS transistors from ESD. The capability of a protection circuit using the new SCR design is experimentally demonstrated. The tunability of the SCR trigger voltage with reference to the nMOS breakdown voltage is exploited to improve the human body model (HBM) ESD failure threshold of an output buffer from 1500 to 5000 V     

Complementary-SCR ESD protection circuit with interdigitatedfinger-type layout for input pads of submicron CMOS IC's

A new ESD protection circuit with complementary SCR structures and junction diodes is proposed. This complementary-SCR ESD protection circuit with interdigitated finger-type layout has been successfully fabricated and verified in a 0.6 μm CMOS SRAM technology with the LDD process. The proposed ESD protection circuit can be free of VDD-to-VSS latchup under 5 V VDD operation by means of a base-emitter shorting method. To compensate for the degradation on latching capability of lateral SCR devices in the ESD protection circuit caused by the base-emitter shorting method, the p-well to p-well spacing of lateral BJT's in the lateral SCR devices is reduced to lower its ESD-trigger voltage and to enhance turn-on speed of positive-feedback regeneration in the lateral SCR devices. This ESD protection circuit can perform at high ESD failure threshold in small layout areas, so it is very suitable for submicron CMOS VLSI/ULSI's in high-pin-count or high-density applications     

Latchup-free ESD protection design with complementary substrate-triggered SCR devices

The turn-on mechanism of silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) devices is essentially a current triggering event. While a current is applied to the base or substrate of an SCR device, it can be quickly triggered on into its latching state. In this paper, latchup-free electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuits, which are combined with the substrate-triggered technique and an SCR device, are proposed. A complementary circuit style with the substrate-triggered SCR device is designed to discharge both the pad-to-V/sub SS/ and pad-to-V/sub DD/ ESD stresses. The novel complementary substrate-triggered SCR devices have the advantages of controllable switching voltage, adjustable holding voltage, faster turn-on speed, and compatible to general CMOS process without extra process modification such as the silicide-blocking mask and ESD implantation. The total holding voltage of the substrate-triggered SCR device can be linearly increased by adding the stacked diode string to avoid the transient-induced latchup issue in the ESD protection circuits. The on-chip ESD protection circuits designed with the proposed complementary substrate-triggered SCR devices and stacked diode string for the input/output pad and power pad have been successfully verified in a 0.25-/spl mu/m salicided CMOS process with the human body model (machine model) ESD level of /spl sim/7.25 kV (500 V) in a small layout area.     

Substrate-triggered SCR device for on-chip ESD protection in fully silicided sub-0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process

The turn-on mechanism of a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) device is essentially a current triggering event. While a current is applied to the base or substrate of the SCR device, it can be quickly triggered into its latching state. In this paper, a novel design concept to turn on the SCR device by applying the substrate-triggered technique is first proposed for effective on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. This novel substrate-triggered SCR device has the advantages of controllable switching voltage and adjustable holding voltage and is compatible with general CMOS processes without extra process modification such as the silicide-blocking mask and ESD implantation. Moreover, the substrate-triggered SCR devices can be stacked in ESD protection circuits to avoid the transient-induced latch-up issue. The turn-on time of the proposed substrate-triggered SCR devices can be reduced from 27.4 to 7.8 ns by the substrate-triggering technique. The substrate-triggered SCR device with a small active area of only 20 /spl mu/m /spl times/ 20 /spl mu/m can sustain the HBM ESD stress of 6.5 kV in a fully silicided 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process.     

一种新型的高维持电压可控硅

可控硅(SCR)作为静电放电(ESD)保护器件,因具有高的鲁棒性而被广泛应用,但其维持电压很低,容易导致闩锁问题。针对高压集成电路的ESD保护,提出了一种新颖的具有高维持电压的SCR结构(HHVSCR)。通过添加一个重掺杂的N型掺杂层(NIL),减小了SCR器件自身固有的正反馈效应,从而提高了SCR的维持电压。Sentaurus TCAD仿真结果表明,与传统的SCR相比,改进的HHVSCR无需增加额外的面积就可将维持电压从1.88 V提高到11.9 V,可应用于高压集成电路的ESD防护。     

Using an SCR as ESD protection without latch-up danger

A properly designed Low-Voltage Triggering SCR has a four times better ESD performance than a conventional grounded-gate NMOST of the same width. But it does present a latch-up risk due to its low holding voltage. The holding voltage can be increased by using a larger anode-to-cathode spacing, but at very large spacings the ESD performance decreases. It is shown that a window in SCR anode-to-cathode spacing exists, for which the holding voltage is sufficiently large, while the excellent ESD protection properties are preserved.     

Very small snapback silicon-controlled rectifier for electrostatic discharge protection in 28 nm processing

A novel silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR)-based device with very small snapback is proposed in this paper. New features including an embedded gate-to-VDD PMOS (GDPMOS) and lateral n-p-n BJT are used to achieve low trigger and high holding voltages suitable for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection of 28-nm CMOS technology with very narrow ESD operation windows. Measured results show an ESD operation window of less than 1 V. TCAD simulation is also carried out to demonstrate the underlying physical mechanisms.     

SCR-based ESD protection in nanometer SOI technologies

This paper introduces an SCR-based ESD protection design for silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technologies. SCR devices or thyristors, as they are sometimes better known, have long since been used in Bulk CMOS to provide very area efficient, high performance ESD protection for a wide variety of circuit applications. The special physical properties and design of an SOI technology however, renders straightforward implementation of an SCR in such technologies impossible. This paper discusses these difficulties and presents an approach to construct efficient SCR devices in SOI. These devices outperform MOS-based ESD protection devices by about four times, attaining roughly the same performance as diodes. Experimental data from two 65 nm and one 130 nm SOI technologies is presented to support this.     

Optimization on MOS-Triggered SCR Structures for On-Chip ESD Protection

MOS-triggered silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) devices have been reported to achieve efficient on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection in deep-submicrometer CMOS technology. The channel length of the embedded MOS transistor in the MOS-triggered SCR device dominates the trigger mechanism and current distribution to govern the trigger voltage, holding voltage, on resistance, second breakdown current, and ESD robustness of the MOS-triggered SCR device. The embedded MOS transistor in the MOS-triggered SCR device should be optimized to achieve the most efficient ESD protection in advanced CMOS technology. In addition, the layout style of the embedded MOS transistor can be adjusted to improve the MOS-triggered SCR device for ESD protection.     

Study of current saturation behaviors in dual direction SCR for ESD applications

The current saturation behaviors of Dual Direction Silicon Controlled Rectifier (DDSCR) and N+ Modified Dual Direction SCR (NMDDSCR) are investigated under transmission line pulse (TLP) stress, compared with Unidirectional SCR (USCR). DDSCR and NMDDSCR are more prone to saturation current state due to different ESD discharge paths, which are verified by TCAD simulation. The saturation current behavior should be suppressed for better ESD effectiveness and robustness. By increasing the lengths of N+ and P+ diffusion area, the saturation current can be suppressed effectively.