Power-Rail ESD Clamp Circuit with Embedded-Trigger SCR Device in a 65-nm CMOS Process

Abstract

SCR is the preferred ESD protection device in nanoscale CMOS technologies due to the better area efficiency compared the BIGFET, virtually no leakage current and smaller capacitance. The main drawback of the SCR is the slow turn-on speed, which is solved by adding dummy gates to block the STI formations inside the SCR structure. This work demonstrates that the dummy gate inside the SCR can be effectively used as an embedded trigger transistor, eliminating the need of an external trigger transistor in the ESD protection circuit and so further reducing silicon area and standby leakage current.