On-chip ESD protection circuit design with novel substrate-triggered SCR device in sub-quarter-micron CMOS process

Abstract

A novel design concept to turn on the SCR device by applying the substrate-triggered method is first proposed in the literature for effective on-chip ESD protection design. To avoid the, transient-induced latch-up issue, the substrate-triggered SCR devices are stacked in the ESD protection circuits. The turn-on efficiency of SCR can be greatly improved by applying the substrate-triggered method. The on-chip ESD protection circuits designed with the substrate-triggered SCR devices for input pad, output pad, and power pad have been successfully verified in a 0.25-mum CMOS process. The substrate-triggered SCR device with a smaller layout area of only 40mumx20mum can sustain the HBM ESD stress of higher than 7kV.