Active electrostatic discharge (ESD) device for on-chip ESD protection in sub-quarter-micron complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process

Abstract

A novel electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device with a threshold voltage of similar to0V for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits in sub-quarter-micron CMOS technology is proposed. Quite different to the traditional ESD protection devices, such an active ESD device is originally standing in its turn-on state when the IC is zapped under ESD events. Therefore, such an active ESD device has the fastest turn-on speed and the lowest turn-on voltage to effectively protect the internal circuits with a much thinner gate oxide in future sub-0.1 mum CMOS technology. The proposed active ESD device is fully process-compatible to the general sub-quarter-micron CMOS process.