Area-efficient layout design for CMOS output transistors

A novel layout design to effectively reduce the layout area of the thin-oxide NMOS and PMOS devices in CMOS output buffers with ESD consideration is proposed. With respect to the traditional finger-type layout, the large-dimension output NMOS and PMOS devices are realized by multiple octagonal cells. Without using extra ESD-optimization process, the output NMOS and PMOS devices in this octagon-type layout can provide higher driving/sinking current and better ESD robustness within a smaller layout area. The drain-to-bulk parasitic capacitance at the output node is also reduced by this octagon-type layout. Experimental results in a 0.6-μm CMOS process have shown that the output driving (sinking) current of CMOS output buffers in per unit layout area is increased 47.7% (34.3%) by this octagon-type layout. The HBM (MM) ESD robustness of this octagon-type output buffer in per unit layout area is also increased 41.5% (84.6%), as comparing to the traditional finger-type output buffer. This octagon-type layout design makes a substantial contribution to the submicron or deep-submicron CMOS IC's in high-density and high-speed applications     

ESD implantation for subquarter-micron CMOS technology to enhance ESD robustness

A new electrostatic discharge (ESD) implantation method is proposed to significantly improve ESD robustness of CMOS integrated circuits in subquarter-micron CMOS processes, especially the machine-model (MM) ESD robustness. By using this method, the ESD current is discharged far away from the surface channel of nMOS, therefore the nMOS (both single nMOS and stacked nMOS) can sustain a much higher ESD level. The MM ESD robustness of the gate-grounded nMOS with a device dimension width/length (W/L) of 300 /spl mu/m/0.5 /spl mu/m has been successfully improved from the original 450 V to become 675 V in a 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process. The MM ESD robustness of the stacked nMOS in the mixed-voltage I/O circuits with a device dimension W/L of 300 /spl mu/m/0.5 /spl mu/m for each nMOS has been successfully improved from the original 350 V to become 500 V in the same CMOS process. Moreover, this new ESD implantation method with the n-type impurity can be fully merged into the general subquarter-micron CMOS processes.     

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     

Technology design for high current and ESD robustness in a deepsubmicron CMOS process

The intrinsic ESD/EOS robustness of a technology is determined by the sensitivity to thermal initiated second breakdown. We show, for the first time, high current and ESD robustness results for a deep submicron CMOS technology with drawn poly gate lengths of 0.35 μm and oxide thicknesses down to 4.5 nm. It is shown that a transistor design window can be determined for optimized drive current and good robustness, while maintaining low off currents. An important observation is that robustness increases for smaller channel lengths and is directly proportional to the transistor drive current. Hence, robust deep submicron technologies can be designed with optimized transistor performance without using additional masks or increasing process complexity     

Whole-chip ESD protection design with efficient VDD-to-VSS ESDclamp circuits for submicron CMOS VLSI

A whole-chip ESD protection design with efficient VDD-to-VSS ESD clamp circuits is proposed to provide a real whole-chip ESD protection for submicron CMOS IC's without causing unexpected ESD damage in the internal circuits. The efficient VDD-to-VSS ESD clamp circuit has been designed to provide a low-impedance path between the VDD and VSS power lines of the IC during the ESD-stress condition, but this ESD clamp circuit is kept off when the IC is under its normal operating condition. Due to the parasitic resistance and capacitance along the VDD and VSS power lines, the ESD-protection efficiency is dependent on the pin location on a chip. Therefore, an experimental test chip has been designed and fabricated to build up a special ESD design rule for whole-chip ESD protection in a 0.8-μm CMOS technology. This whole-chip ESD protection design has been practically used to rescue a 0.8-μm CMOS IC product with a pin-to-pin HBM ESD level from the original level of 0.5 kV to become above 3 kV     

Lateral SCR devices with low-voltage high-current triggeringcharacteristics for output ESD protection in submicron CMOS technology

A high-current PMOS-trigger lateral SCR (HIPTSCR) device and a high-current NMOS-trigger lateral SCR (HINTSCR) device with a lower trigger voltage but a higher trigger current are proposed to improve ESD robustness of CMOS output buffer in submicron CMOS technology. The lower trigger voltage is achieved by inserting short-channel thin-oxide PMOS or NMOS devices into the lateral SCR structures. The higher trigger current is achieved by inserting the bypass diodes into the structures of the HIPTSCR and HINTSCR devices. These HIPTSCR and HINTSCR devices have a lower trigger voltage to effectively protect the output transistors in the ESD-stress conditions, but they also have a higher trigger current to avoid the unexpected triggering due to the electrical noise on the output pad when the CMOS ICs are in the normal operating conditions. Experimental results have verified that the trigger current of the proposed HIPTSCR (HINTSCR) is increased up to 225.5 mA (218.5 mA). But, the trigger voltage of the HIPTSCR (HINTSCR) remains at a lower value of 13.4 V (11.6 V). The noise margin against the overshooting (undershooting) voltage pulse on the output pad, without accidentally triggering on the HINTSCR (HIPTSCR), can be greater than VDD+12 V (VSS -12 V). These HIPTSCR and HINTSCR devices have been practically used to protect CMOS output buffers with a 4000-V (700-V) HEM (MM) ESD robustness but only within a small layout area of 37.6×60 μm² in a standard 0.6-μm CMOS technology without extra process modification     

Analysis on the dependence of layout parameters on ESD robustness of CMOS devices for manufacturing in deep-submicron CMOS process

The layout dependence on ESD robustness of NMOS and PMOS devices has been experimentally investigated in details. A lot of CMOS devices with different device dimensions, layout spacings, and clearances have been drawn and fabricated to find the optimized layout rules for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. The main layout parameters to affect ESD robustness of CMOS devices are the channel width, the channel length, the clearance from contact to poly-gate edge at drain and source regions, the spacing from the drain diffusion to the guard-ring diffusion, and the finger width of each unit finger. Non-uniform turn-on effects have been clearly investigated in the gate-grounded large-dimension NMOS devices by using EMMI (EMission MIcroscope) observation. The optimized layout parameters have been verified to effectively improve ESD robustness of CMOS devices. The relations between ESD robustness and the layout parameters have been explained by both transmission line pulsing (TLP) measured data and the energy band diagrams.     

Complementary-LVTSCR ESD protection circuit for submicron CMOS VLSI/ULSI

There is one LVTSCR device merged with short-channel NMOS and another LVTSCR device merged with short-channel PMOS in a complementary style to offer effective and direct ESD discharging paths from the input or output pads to VSS and VDD power lines. The trigger voltages of LVTSCR devices are lowered to the snapback-breakdown voltages of short-channel NMOS and PMOS devices. This complementary-LVTSCR ESD protection circuit offers four different discharging paths to one-by-one bypass the four modes of ESD stresses at the pad, so it can effectively avoid unexpected ESD damage on internal circuits. Experimental results show that it provides excellent ESD protection capability in a smaller layout area as compared to the conventional CMOS ESD protection circuit. The device characteristics under a high-temperature environment of up to 150/spl deg/C are also experimentally investigated to guarantee the safety of this proposed ESD protection circuit.     

A strategy for characterization and evaluation of ESD robustness of CMOS semiconductor technologies

This paper proposes an ESD technology strategy for characterization, evaluation and benchmarking the ESD “robustness” of CMOS semiconductor technologies. The ESD methodology uses a set of CMOS “building block” ESD test structures, matrices of critical ESD layout variables, electrical characterization parameters, and testing and extraction procedures, and ESD metrics. This work is the first step in the development of a common ESD language.     

ESD reliability and protection schemes in SOI CMOS output buffers

The electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection capability of SOI CMOS output buffers has been studied with Human Body Model (HBM) stresses. Experimental results show that the ESD voltage sustained by SOI CMOS buffers is only about half the voltage sustained by the bulk NMOS buffers. ESD discharge current in a SOI CMOS buffer is found to be absorbed by the NMOSFET alone. Also, SOI circuits display more serious reliability problem in handling negative ESD discharge current during bi-directional stresses. Most of the methods developed for bulk technology to improve ESD performance have minimal effects on SOI. A new Through Oxide Buffer ESD protection scheme is proposed as an alternative for SOI ESD protection. In order to improve ESD reliability, ESD protection circuitries can be fabricated on the SOI substrate instead of the top silicon thin film, after selectively etching through the buried oxide. This scheme also allows ESD protection strategies developed for bulk technology to be directly transferred to SOI substrate.<>     

CMOS substrate coupling modeling and analysis flow for submicron SoC design

CMOS technology substrate crosstalk modeling and a respective analysis flow that captures the affected circuit performance is described. The proposed methodology can be seamlessly integrated into any industrial Analog/RF circuit design flow, and be compatible within standard design environments. It provides accurate estimation of the substrate coupling effects and can estimate adequately all the mask design level isolation performance trends by adapting an advanced substrate modeling concept based on geometrical and process data. Different substrate model accuracy constraints can be invoked depending on the design phase and the simulation time needs. The provided accuracy is validated by correlating simulation results versus on wafer silicon measurements in a 28 nm CMOS set of ring oscillators with carrier frequency of 670 MHz. The mean error of the proposed method is 665 μV while the error sigma is 765 μV.     

Circuit and process design considerations for ESD protection in advanced CMOS processes

This paper reviews many of the important issues for building ESD protection with NMOS transistors containing silicided diffusions and lightly doped drain junctions. The impact of device process parameters, such as gate length, side-wall spacer and silicided, graded junctions, on NMOS ESD performance are discussed. More recent process advances, such as LATID and halo implants, are also reviewed. Several varieties of circuits for triggering NMOS protection transistors under ESD conditions are covered.     

ESD implantations for on-chip ESD protection with layout consideration in 0.18-/spl mu/m salicided CMOS technology

One method to enhance electrostatic discharge (ESD) robustness of the on-chip ESD protection devices is through process design by adding an extra "ESD implantation" mask. In this work, ESD robustness of nMOS devices and diodes with different ESD implantation solutions in a 0.18-/spl mu/m salicided CMOS process is investigated by experimental testchips. The second breakdown current (I/sub t2/) of the nMOS devices with these different ESD implantation solutions for on-chip ESD protection are measured by a transmission line pulse generator (TLPG). The human-body-model (HBM) and machine-model (MM) ESD levels of these devices are also investigated and compared. A significant improvement in ESD robustness is observed when an nMOS device is fabricated with both boron and arsenic ESD implantations. The ESD robustness of the N-type diode under the reverse-biased stress condition can also be improved by the boron ESD implantation. The layout consideration in multifinger MOSFETs and diodes for better ESD robustness is also investigated.     

ESD protection design for CMOS RF integrated circuits using polysilicon diodes

ESD protection design for CMOS RF integrated circuits is proposed in this paper by using the stacked polysilicon diodes as the input ESD protection devices to reduce the total input capacitance and to avoid the noise coupling from the common substrate. The ESD level of the stacked polysilicon diodes on the I/O pad is restored by using the turn-on efficient power-rail ESD clamp circuit, which is constructed by substrate-triggered technique. This polysilicon diode is fully process compatible to general sub-quarter-micron CMOS processes.     

ESD protection design for 1- to 10-GHz distributed amplifier in CMOS technology

Two distributed electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection schemes are presented and applied to protect distributed amplifiers (DAs) against ESD stresses. Fabricated in a standard 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process, the DA with the first protection scheme of the equal-sized distributed ESD (ES-DESD) protection scheme, contributing an extra 300 fF parasitic capacitance to the circuit, can sustain the human-body model (HBM) ESD level of 5.5 kV and machine-model (MM) ESD level of 325 V and exhibits the flat-gain of 4.7 /spl plusmn/ 1 dB from 1 to 10 GHz. With the same amount of parasitic capacitance, the DA with the second protection scheme of the decreasing-sized distributed ESD (DS-DESD) protection scheme achieves better ESD robustness, where the HBM ESD level over 8 kV and MM ESD level is 575 V, and has the flat-gain of 4.9 /spl plusmn/ 1.1 dB over the 1 to 9.2-GHz band. With these two proposed ESD protection schemes, the broad-band RF performances and high ESD robustness of the DA can be successfully codesigned to meet the application specifications.     

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。     

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for CMOS output buffers in scaled-down VLSI technology

To provide area-efficient output ESD protection for the scaled-down CMOS VLSI, a new output ESD protection is proposed. In the new output ESD protection circuit, there are two novel devices, the PTLSCR (PMOS-trigger lateral SCR) and the NTLSCR (NMOS-trigger lateral SCR). The PTLSCR is in parallel and merged with the output PMOS, and the NTLSCR is in parallel and merged with the output NMOS, to provide area-efficient ESD protection for CMOS output buffers. The trigger voltages of PTLSCR and NTLSCR are lowered below the breakdown voltages of the output PMOS and NMOS in the CMOS output buffer. The PTLSCR and NTLSCR are guaranteed to be turned on first before the output PMOS or NMOS are broken down by the ESD voltage. Experimental results have shown that the PTLSCR and NTLSCR can sustain over 4000 V (700 V) of the human-body-model (machine-model) ESD stresses within a very small layout area in a 0.6 μm CMOS technology with LDD and polycide processes. The noise margin of the proposed output ESD protection design is greater than 8 V (lower than −3.3 V) to avoid the undesired triggering on the NTLSCR (PTLSCR) due to the overshooting (undershooting) voltage pulse on the output pad when the IC is under normal operating conditions with 5 V VDD and 0 V VSS power supplies.     

ESD protection for CMOS output buffer by using modified LVTSCRdevices with high trigger current

Modified designs of the low-voltage triggering semiconductor-controlled rectifier (LVTSCR) devices with high trigger current are proposed to protect the CMOS output buffer against electrostatic discharge (ESD) events in submicrometer CMOS technologies. The high trigger current is achieved by inserting the bypass diodes into the structures of the modified PMOS-trigger lateral SCR (PTLSCR) and NMOS-trigger lateral SCR (NTLSCR) devices, these modified PTLSCR and NTLSCR devices have a lower trigger voltage to effectively protect the output transistors in the ESD-stress conditions, but they also have a higher trigger current to avoid the accidental triggering due to the electrical noise on the output pad in the normal operating conditions of CMOS IC's. Experimental results have verified that the trigger current of the modified PTLSCR (NTLSCR) is increased up to 225.5 mA (218.5 mA). The noise margin to the overshooting (undershooting) voltage pulse on the output pad, without accidentally triggering on the modified NTLSCR (PTLSCR), is more than VDD+12 V (VSS-12 V)     

Area efficient layout design of CMOS circuit for high-density ICs

Efficient layouts have been an active area of research to accommodate the greater number of devices fabricated on a given chip area. In this work a new layout of CMOS circuit is proposed, with an aim to improve its electrical performance and reduce the chip area consumed. The study shows that the design of CMOS circuit and SRAM cells comprising tapered body reduced source fully depleted silicon on insulator (TBRS FD-SOI)-based n- and p-type MOS devices. The proposed TBRS FD-SOI n- and p-MOSFET exhibits lower sub-threshold slope and higher I_on to I_off ratio when compared with FD-SOI MOSFET and FinFET technology. Other parameters like power dissipation, delay time and signal-to-noise margin of CMOS inverter circuits show improvement when compared with available inverter designs. The above device design is used in 6-T SRAM cell so as to see the effect of proposed layout on high density integrated circuits (ICs). The SNM obtained from the proposed SRAM cell is 565 mV which is much better than any other SRAM cell designed at 50 nm gate length MOS device. The Sentaurus TCAD device simulator is used to design the proposed MOS structure.     

ESD robustness prediction and protection device design in partially depleted SOI technology

In this paper we investigate and develop models for partially-depleted silicon-on-insulator (SOI) (PD–SOI) device failure under EOS/ESD stress. The model and experimental data show that due to increased device self-heating, the second-breakdown current per micron width (I_t2) for salicided PD-SOI metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET)s with Si film thickness of 100 nm is about 50% of that in their bulk counterparts under human body model (HBM–ESD) stress pulses. Furthermore, I_t2 did not scale with device width. Therefore, ESD protection devices with non-silicided S/D diffusions and source-body tied MOSFETs are investigated for improved ESD protection levels. Compact ESD protection networks using the source-body tied device may have been shown to achieve HBM–ESD protection levels of ±3.75 kV (Smith JC, Lien M, Veeraghaven S. An ESD protection circuit for TFSOI technology. International SOI Conf. Proc. 1996. pp. 170–71).