Post-Si Programmable ESD Protection Circuit Design: Mechanisms and Analysis

This paper reports new mechanisms, design, and analysis of novel electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection solutions, which enable post-Si field-programmable ESD protection circuit design for the first time. Two new ESD protection concepts, nano-crystal quantum-dot (NC-QD) and silicon–oxide–nitride–oxide–silicon (SONOS)-based ESD protection, are presented. Experiments validated the two new programmable ESD protection mechanisms. Prototype designs demonstrated a wide adjustable ESD triggering voltage $({V}_{{t}1})$ range of $\Delta {V}_{{t}1}\sim \hbox { 2 V}$ , very fast response $({t}_{1})$ to ESD transients of rising time ${t}_{r}\sim \hbox { 100 pS}$ and pulse duration ${t}_{d}\sim \hbox { 1 nS}$ , ESD protection capability $({I}_{{t}2})$ of at least 25 $\hbox {mA}/\mu\hbox {m}$ for human body model (HBM) and 400 $\hbox {mA}/\mu\hbox {m}$ for charged device model (CDM) equivalent stressing, and very low leakage current $({I}_{\rm \leak})$ as low as 1.2 pA. Field-programmable ESD protection circuit design examples are discussed.