A compact LDMOS DDSCR for HV ESD protections with high robustness and reliability. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Zhuojun; Lu, Wenzhao; Wu, Ming; Peng, Wei; Hu, Yuanyuan; Li, Bo; Zeng, Yun; Jin, Xiangliang
• Is Part Of: Solid-state electronics. Volume 161(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: Dual-direction SCR (DDSCR) -- Trigger voltage -- Failure current -- Electrostatic discharge (ESD); Semiconductors -- Periodicals; Semiconducteurs -- Périodiques; 621.38152
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sse.2019.107640
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-1101

Abstract

Highlights: A compact LDMOS-DDSCR for dual-direction HV ESD protection is proposed to achieve low trigger voltage and high failure current. The failure current of new proposed LDMOS-DDSCR raises from 2.00A to 4.02A. The new proposed LDMOS-DDSCR shows good temperature reliability. Abstract: The LDMOS-based silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) is commonly used in high voltage (HV) electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection due to its great current handling capability per area and HV protection ability. In this paper, an improved LDMOS-based dual direction SCR (LDMOS-DDSCR) device is designed by replacing floating N+ region with electrically-connected P+, N+ and P+ regions to enhance its ESD robustness, which is verified in a 0.5-μm (1p2m) 18 V HV CDMOS process. The internal mechanism of the proposed device is analyzed using two-dimension (2D) TCAD simulations, and the ESD performance is characterized by means of transmission line pulse (TLP) and very-fast TLP (VFTLP) measurements. Compared with the conventional LDMOS-DDSCR, the failure current of the compact LDMOS-DDSCR raises from 2.00 A to 4.02 A (increased by 101%), and the trigger voltage reduces from 44.28 V to 39.76 V, without sacrificing layout area. Furthermore, the TLP I-V curves of the proposed LDMOS-DDSCR are measured at different temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 125 °C, which proves its reliability and show potential use in the applications of high voltage integrated circuits.