Characterization and modeling of ESD diodes in RF circuits

This paper presents the characterization of diode arrays fabricated in IBM´s 0.18um CSOI7RF technology under both ESD and Radio Frequency (RF) test conditions. For the ESD characterization, HBM and TLP measurements and simulations are conducted and discussed in detail. For the RF characterization, the small signal and large signal responses are both measured and simulated. The primary focus is the diode array loading capacitance which is extracted from the small signal S-Parameters, and the harmonic power which is measured at both even and odd harmonics during a 900MHz power sweep. This research focuses on the connection between asymmetry in the diode structures (mismatch) and the even harmonic responses of bi-directional shunted ESD diode connected circuits.