Wide range control of the sustaining voltage of ESD protection elements realized in a smart power technology

摘要

Highly efficient ESD protection structures with a sustaining voltage > 40 V are realized in a smart power technology. They guarantee an excellent ESD protection at high voltage pins without the danger of transient latch-up. Compared to the vertical npn transistor a shift of the sustaining voltage of 20 V has been achieved purely by a layout modification of the buried layer. The high ESD performance has been proven on product level by an ESD hardness of > 8 kV (HBM).