Pushing away the silicon limits of ESD protection structures: exploration of crystallographic orientation

David Trémouilles (1) , Yuan Gao (2) , Marise Bafleur (1)

1 LAAS-ISGE - Équipe Intégration de Systèmes de Gestion de l'Énergie
2 ON Semiconductor

Improving the ESD robustness of integrated protection structures to cope with the constraints of severe environments such as the automotive one is a real challenge. Getting a deep understanding of the involved high injection physics during an ESD stress helps defining specific design guidelines. The grounded-base NPN bipolar transistor is a popular and efficient protection device. In this paper, we explore the impact of crystal orientation on the electrical characteristics and the robustness of this device. It is shown for the first time that orienting the structure 45° with respect to the wafer flat allows significantly improving its on-resistance. A 30% improvement is measured on the device under study.

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

David Trémouilles, Yuan Gao, Marise Bafleur. Pushing away the silicon limits of ESD protection structures: exploration of crystallographic orientation. BIPOLAR/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting (BCTM), Oct 2008, Monterey, United States. pp.200-203. ⟨hal-00383353⟩