Snap-back characteristics tuning of SCR-based semiconductor structures

摘要

Semiconductor structures having snap-back type of I-V characteristics are very useful in ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection design. ESD protection structures act as a protection of integrated circuits against the parasitic electrostatic discharge. The typical protection structure having the snap-back type of I-V characteristic is a SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) or a gate grounded NMOS transistor. This text is dealing with structures which enable tuning of I-V snapback characteristics. The simulated technology was CMOS very high voltage (VHVIC). The measurement was done for samples manufactured in 1.5μm BiCMOS.