A Novel Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Protection Device by Current Feedback Using $0.18\;{\mu}m$ Process

$0.18\;{\mu}m$ 공정에서 전류 피드백을 이용한 새로운 구조의 정전기 보호 소자에 관한 연구

As device process technology advances, effective channel length, the thickness of gate oxide, and supply voltage decreases. This paper describes a novel electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device which has current feedback for high ESD immunity. A conventional Gate-Grounded NMOS (GGNMOS) transistor has only one ESD current path, which makes, the core circuit be in the safe region, so an GGNMOS transistor has low current immunity compared with our device which has current feedback path. To simulate our device, we use conventional $0.18\;{\mu}m$ technology parameters with a gate oxide thickness of $43\;{\AA}$ and power supply voltage of 1.8 V. Our simulation results indicate that the area of our ESD protection, device can be smaller than a GGNMOS transistor, and ESD immunity is better than a GGNMOS transistor.