Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D84/00—Integrated devices formed in or on semiconductor substrates that comprise only semiconducting layers, e.g. on Si wafers or on GaAs-on-Si wafers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D89/00—Aspects of integrated devices not covered by groups H10D84/00 - H10D88/00
  • H10D89/60—Integrated devices comprising arrangements for electrical or thermal protection, e.g. protection circuits against electrostatic discharge [ESD]
  • H10D89/601—Integrated devices comprising arrangements for electrical or thermal protection, e.g. protection circuits against electrostatic discharge [ESD] for devices having insulated gate electrodes, e.g. for IGFETs or IGBTs
  • H10D89/811—Integrated devices comprising arrangements for electrical or thermal protection, e.g. protection circuits against electrostatic discharge [ESD] for devices having insulated gate electrodes, e.g. for IGFETs or IGBTs using FETs as protective elements
  • H10D89/813—Integrated devices comprising arrangements for electrical or thermal protection, e.g. protection circuits against electrostatic discharge [ESD] for devices having insulated gate electrodes, e.g. for IGFETs or IGBTs using FETs as protective elements specially adapted to provide an electrical current path other than the field-effect induced current path
  • H10D89/815—Integrated devices comprising arrangements for electrical or thermal protection, e.g. protection circuits against electrostatic discharge [ESD] for devices having insulated gate electrodes, e.g. for IGFETs or IGBTs using FETs as protective elements specially adapted to provide an electrical current path other than the field-effect induced current path involving a parasitic bipolar transistor triggered by the local electrical biasing of the layer acting as base region of said parasitic bipolar transistor
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D89/00—Aspects of integrated devices not covered by groups H10D84/00 - H10D88/00
  • H10D89/60—Integrated devices comprising arrangements for electrical or thermal protection, e.g. protection circuits against electrostatic discharge [ESD]
  • H10D89/601—Integrated devices comprising arrangements for electrical or thermal protection, e.g. protection circuits against electrostatic discharge [ESD] for devices having insulated gate electrodes, e.g. for IGFETs or IGBTs
  • H10D89/811—Integrated devices comprising arrangements for electrical or thermal protection, e.g. protection circuits against electrostatic discharge [ESD] for devices having insulated gate electrodes, e.g. for IGFETs or IGBTs using FETs as protective elements

Definitions

• the invention relates generally to the field of semiconductors. More
• the invention relates to a low voltage electrostatic discharge clamp.
• Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is an important reliability concern for most classes of integrated circuits.
• a circuit designer may use a protective element connected in parallel with the circuit, connecting an input/output (I/O) pad to the ground.
• I/O input/output
• providing an ESD protection element that is able to shunt high levels of ESD current while maintaining low clamping voltages, that uses a relatively small area, and that is compatible with exciting IC process technologies is particularly challenging.
• An ESD protection element must provide a high level of protection with minimum parasitic loading area. Additionally, an ESD protection device is required to exhibit a failure current that is large and that properly scales with the area of the protection device itself.
• NMOS floating-body n-channel metal-oxide semiconductor
• Floating-body NMOS transistors may be used as ESD clamps and usually present good ESD protection.
• problems with this technology include a high direct leakage current (DC leakage) and greater susceptibility to latch-up.
• DC leakage may be in the form of an undesirable current from the drain to the source. Latch-up may occur, for example, when the parasitic thyristor structures formed by the NMOS and adjacent devices are inadvertently triggered.
• FIG. 1 is a combination circuit and block diagram of a prior-art ESD protection system.
• FIG. 2 is a combination circuit and block diagram of an ESD protection system, representing an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 3 is a combination circuit and block diagram of another ESD protection system, representing an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 4 is a cross-section of an isolated RPWT NMOS transistor, representing an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 5 is a graph of a transmission line pulse (TLP) curve 402 characteristic of an RPWT clamp such as the one detailed in FIGS. 2 or 3 and of a TLP curve 401
• TLP transmission line pulse
• FIG. 6 is a graph of a direct leakage current (DC leakage) curve 501
• leakage curve 502 characteristic of a prior-art clamp such as the one detailed in FIG.
• a method includes protecting a circuit from an electrostatic discharge by coupling a resistor p-well connected transistor to an input/output pad and to a ground in parallel with the circuit.
• a resistor p-well connected transistor includes a substrate, an isolating structure in the substrate, an isolating layer adjacent to the isolating structure, a well adjacent to the isolating layer and the isolating structure, a first doped region in the well, a first conducting terminal adjacent to the first doped region defining a body, a second doped region in the well, a second conducting terminal adjacent to the second doped region defining a source, a dielectric layer adjacent to the well, a third conducting terminal adjacent to the dielectric layer defining a gate, a third doped region in the well, a fourth conducting terminal adjacent to the third doped region defining a drain, and a resistive element coupled between the first conducting terminal and the second conducting terminal.
• a floating-body transistor (or clamp) 101 having a body 102, a gate 103, a source 104, and a drain 105 is connected to an I/O pad 110 via the drain 105, and to a ground 120 via the source 104.
• the gate 103 is connected to the source 104.
• a circuit or circuit core 130 is connected to the drain 105 and to the source 104, in parallel with the floating-body transistor 101.
• the floating-body transistor 101 may be an n-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (NMOS) transistor, an isolated NMOS transistor, or the like.
• the body 102 is floating, that is, its terminal has an undefined voltage. In operation, the floating-body transistor 101 may function as a clamp due to
• the floating-body transistor operates as bipolar junction transistor (BJT) in breakdown mode, which may typically handle large amounts of current with a low "on" resistance, thereby reducing the total power
• the floating-body transistor 101 turns on
• the floating-body transistor 101 remains "off (non-conducting) during normal circuit operation.
• FIG. 2 a combination circuit and block diagram of an ESD protection system 200 is depicted according to an exemplary embodiment of the
• An ESD protection transistor (or clamp) 201 having a body 202, a gate
• a source 204 is connected to the I/O pad 110 via the drain 205,
• the gate 203 is connected to the
• the body 202 is coupled to the source 204 though a resistor 206.
• the circuit 130 is connected to the drain 205 and to the source 204, in parallel with the
• ESD protection transistor 201 In practice, the ESD protection transistor 201 may be
• the ESD clamp 201 may be a resistor p-well connected
• transistor 201 also referred to as a resistor p-well tied (RPWT) transistor 201.
• RWT resistor p-well tied
• RPWT transistor 201 may be a RPWT n-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (NMOS) transistor, an RPWT isolated NMOS transistor, or the like.
• NMOS metal-oxide semiconductor
• the ESD clamp 201 may be a resistor n-well connected transistor 201.
• the resistor n-well connected transistor 201 may be a p- channel metal-oxide semiconductor (PMOS) transistor, an isolated PMOS transistor, of the like.
• the RPWT transistor 201 can be viewed as an NPN junction
• the drain 205 acts like a
• the source 204 acts like an emitter
• the body 202 acts like a base
• An ESD current passes through the RPWT transistor 201, flowing from the I O pad 110 to the ground 120.
• the resistor 206 may reduce a direct current leakage
• the invention may include connecting a resistive element between the body
• resistor 206 may be used
• resistive element As the resistive element, a transistor or a switch may be used as the resistive element.
• FIG. 3 a combination circuit and block diagram of another ESD protection system 250 is depicted according to an exemplary embodiment of the
• Switch 207 may be, for example, an NMOS transistor. In this
• a switch drain 208 is connected to the body 202 of the ESD clamp 201, a
• switch source 209 is connected to the source 204 of the ESD clamp 201, and a switch
• gate 210 is connected to a voltage supply VDD.
• VDD voltage supply
• VDD is the same supply used by the circuit core 130.
• ESD events are more likely to occur when the power is off and the circuit is handled by human contact.
• FIG. 4 a cross-section of an isolated RPWT NMOS transistor (or
• substrate 302 is adjacent to an n-well ring 303 and to a n-doped layer 304.
• ring 303 and the n-doped layer 304 isolate a p-well 305 from the p-substrate 302.
• a p+ region 306, a first n+ region 307, and a second n+ region 308 are adjacent to the p-
• a first conducting terminal 309 is adjacent to the p+ region 306, defining the
• a second conducting terminal 311 is adjacent to the first n+ region 307,
• the first conducting terminal 309 is coupled to the second conducting terminal 311 through a resistor 317.
• a dielectric layer 313 is adjacent to
• the dielectric layer is formed by the p-well 305 and to the first and second n+ regions 307, 308.
• 313 is also adjacent to a third conducting terminal 314, defining the gate 203.
• the dielectric layer 313 may be a silicon dioxide layer (SiO ).
• the third conducting terminal 314 is adjacent to the second conducting terminal 311, directly
• a fourth conducting terminal 315 is adjacent
• the n-well ring 303 may be substituted by another isolating structure such as, for example, a deep trench isolating structure.
• the first, second, third and fourth conducting terminals 309, 311, 314, 315 may be metal terminals, or may be made of any other conducting materials such as, for example, polysilicon.
• the isolated RPWT NMOS transistor 300 may be used, for example, as the
• the resistor 317 may be internal to the p-well 305.
• the body 202 act like an NPN base
• the drain 205 act like an NPN
• the resistor 317 may reduce a DC leakage from the drain 205 to the source 204 and avoid latch-up.
• TLP transmission line pulse
• curve 401 characteristic of a prior-art clamp such as the one detailed in FIG. 1, illustrating one aspect of the invention.
• the vertical axis is the ESD current through an ESD protection device in milliamperes.
• the horizontal axis is the voltage across the device in volts.
• Transmission line pulse testing is a well-known electrical analysis tool which
• Curves 401, 402 are substantially similar, showing that the RPWT clamp disclosed herein achieves an ESD performance similar to that of the prior-art, floating-body clamp.
• a direct current (DC) leakage curve 501 (open circles)
• the vertical axis is the DC leakage through an ESD protection device in amperes.
• horizontal axis is the voltage across the device in volts.
• Direct current leakage testing may be used to measure the current leaking from the drain to the source of a transistor when a DC voltage is applied from the drain to
• the invention includes using another resistive element coupling the gate to the source of an RPWT transistor to produce a gate-coupling effect and further improve ESD protection.
• the invention may include an RPWT
• NMOS transistor made of a low-voltage junction isolated NMOS transistor with its body coupled to its source through a resistor. Further, the invention may include using
• the RPWT NMOS transistor to protect low-voltage MOS devices from ESD, while minimizing DC leakage and latch-ups.
• a or “an”, as used herein, are defined as one or more than one unless the specification explicitly states otherwise.
• the term “substantially”, as used herein, is defined as at least approaching a given state (e.g., preferably within 10% of, more preferably within 1% of, and most preferably within 0.1% of).
• the term “another”, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more.

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• Semiconductor Integrated Circuits (AREA)
• Metal-Oxide And Bipolar Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Integrated Circuits (AREA)
• Emergency Protection Circuit Devices (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (1)

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• 2003
  • 2003-02-10 US US10/361,469 patent/US6844597B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2004
  • 2004-02-04 CN CNB2004800038357A patent/CN100416824C/zh not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2004-02-04 EP EP04708128A patent/EP1595277A2/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2004-02-04 KR KR1020057014761A patent/KR101006827B1/ko not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2004-02-04 JP JP2006503295A patent/JP4402109B2/ja not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2004-02-04 WO PCT/US2004/003094 patent/WO2004073023A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2004-02-06 TW TW093102773A patent/TWI322501B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2004-12-01 US US11/000,584 patent/US7288820B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime

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