The Effect of IEC-Like Fast Transients on RC-Triggered ESD Power Clamps

Abstract

Four power-rail electrostatic-discharge (ESD) clamp circuits with different ESD-transient detection circuits have been fabricated in a 0.18-mu m CMOS process to investigate their susceptibility against electrical fast-transient (EFT) tests. Under EFT tests, where the integrated circuits in a microelectronic system have been powered up, the feedback loop used in the power-rail ESD clamp circuits may lock the ESD-clamping NMOS in a "latch-on" state. Such a latch-on ESD-clamping NMOS will conduct a huge current between the power lines to perform a latchuplike failure after EFT tests. A modified power-rail ESD clamp circuit has been proposed to solve this latchuplike failure and to provide a high-enough chip-level ESD robustness.