Two-Stage Trigger Silicon-Controller Rectifier (SCR) for Radio ...

Two-Stage Trigger Silicon-Controller Rectifier (SCR) for Radio-Frequency (RF) ESD Protection in the Nanometer Technologies Shao-Chang Huang, Yu-Huei Lee and Ke-Horng Chen Institute of Electrical and Control Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

Jian-Hsing Lee, Independent ESD/LU consultant Yi-Hsun Wu, Realtek Semiconductor Corp., Hsinchu, Taiwan Abstract—In this paper, a two-stage trigger (TST) scheme is proposed to implement a low-capacitance and zero-ohm input resistance electrostatic-discharge (ESD) protection device for nanometer technologies. This scheme includes two different kinds of trigger devices. The diode string is the first trigger device, which provides the substrate current to trigger the output transistor on. As the output transistor is turned on, the source begins to inject the electrons. Thus, some of the electrons are collected to the anode of the silicon-controller rectifier (SCR) for driving it into the latch-up state. With the additional trigger device, the dimension of the main trigger device can be reduced to minimize its capacitance. Moreover, the output transistor can connect to the pad directly without any resistor since the diode string can be turned on before the output transistor is turned on.

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INTRODUCTION

With the move into nanometer technologies the device becomes more vulnerable to the ESD stress than ever due to the ultra-thin oxide (