Title :
Characterizing diodes for RF ESD protection
Author :
Guang Chen ; Haigang Feng ; Haolu Xie ; Rouying Zhan ; Qiong Wu ; Guan, X. ; Wang, Aiping ; Takasuka, K. ; Tamura, Shinji ; Zhihua Wang ; Chun Zhang
Author_Institution :
Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Illinois Inst. of Technol., Chicago, IL, USA
fDate :
5/1/2004 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A diode string as an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection structure for RF ICs is attractive because of its reduced total parasitic capacitance. This letter reports a comprehensive RF characterization of diodes for RF ESD protection, including S-parameters, parasitic capacitance, and resistance. It is found that a two- or three-diode string may be an optimal RF ESD protection solution due to the balanced overall performance, including ESD protection level, total size, and ESD-induced parasitic effects, etc. An optimized two-diode string for 5 kV ESD protection features a 108.5 fF parasitic capacitance at 2.4 GHz, and is 3680 μm2 in size. The design was implemented in a commercial 0.35-μm BiCMOS technology.
Keywords :
BiCMOS integrated circuits; electrostatic discharge; protection; radiofrequency integrated circuits; semiconductor diodes; 0.35 micron; 108.5 fF; 2.4 GHz; 5 kV; BiCMOS technology; ESD protection level; ESD-induced parasitic effects; RF ESD protection; RF characterization; S-parameters; diode string; electrostatic discharge; parasitic capacitance; radiofrequency integrated circuit; BiCMOS integrated circuits; Diodes; Electrostatic discharge; Integrated circuit noise; Noise figure; Noise generators; Parasitic capacitance; Power system protection; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency integrated circuits;
Journal_Title :
Electron Device Letters, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/LED.2004.826531
