High-current characterization of polysilicon diode for electrostatic discharge protection in sub-quarter-micron complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology

Abstract

Polysilicon diodes used in sub-quarter-micron complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technologies are characterized by transmission line pulse (TLP) measurement to investigate device characteristics in a high-current regime. The second-breakdown current (I-t2) of the polysilicon diode shows good linear dependence on the device junction perimeter. When the polysilicon diodes are connected in a stacked configuration for reducing parasitic capacitance, the stacked polysilicon diodes show no degradation in electrostatic discharge (ESD) robustness compared with a single polysilicon diode. Such CMOS process-compatible polysilicon diodes have been successfully used as on-chip ESD protection devices for GHz radio-frequency (RF) circuits.