Apparatus and method for improved power bus ESD protection
AssigneeWinbond Electronics Corp.
InventorShi-Tron Lin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A number of different arrangements of island structures are utilized for improved ESD protection. The MOSFET structure provides islands that are selectively positioned among a group of ESD protection devices for protecting the power-bus, input pins, output pins and I/O pins to achieve ESD improvement in a manner which improves overall ESD protection strength while reducing the complexity of IC simulation and modeling.
Claims21
An integrated circuit device comprising:
- a substrate;
- a first node coupled to a first IC pin;
- a second node coupled to a second IC pin;
- a first electro-static discharge (ESD) protection device coupled to the first node;
- a second ESD protection device coupled to the second node;
- wherein each ESD protection device includes a semiconductor transistor structure that has a drain region, a source region, and a channel formed between the drain and source regions;
- and
- at least one island overlapping at least a portion of the drain region of the first ESD protection device, with the drain region of the second ESD protection device devoid of any islands.
An integrated circuit device having a substrate and an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device having a composite transistor that comprises:
- a plurality of drain regions formed in the substrate, the plurality of drain regions including a first set of drain regions and a second set of drain regions;
- at least one island overlapping at least a portion of each of the first set of drain regions, and wherein each of the second set of drain regions is devoid of any islands;
- and
- wherein said composite transistor is coupled between a first node and a second node, with the first and second sets of drain regions coupled to the first node.
An integrated circuit device having a composite bipolar device that comprises:
- a plurality of emitter regions that includes a first set of emitter regions and a second set of emitter regions;
- and
- at least one island overlapping at least a portion of each of the first set of emitter regions, and wherein each of the second set of emitter regions is devoid of any islands;
- and
- wherein said composite bipolar device is coupled between a first node and a second node, with the first and second sets of emitter regions coupled to the first node.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.