Investigation on LDMOS-SCR with high holding current for high voltage ESD protection

•A novel LDMOS-SCR device with internal resistance-capacitance circuit (LDMOS-SCR-RC) is designed to increase the holding current.•ESD characteristics of LDMOS-SCR-RC with different length of the gate and resistance are measured and investigated.•The SENTAURUS simulations confirm that the increased Ih is mainly attributed to the enhanced resistance-capacitance coupling effect. The DC measurements verify that LDMOS-SCR-RC is effective for avoiding latch-up risks.

We investigate a novel lateral diffused metal-oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) device embedded in silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) and resistance-capacitance circuit (LDMOS-SCR-RC). The internal RC-coupling effect helps to increase the holding current (Ih), resulting in the enhanced latch-up immunity of electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device in high voltage integrated circuits (HV ICs). Transmission line pulse testing results show that the proposed LDMOS-SCR-RC has the largest Ih and smallest trigger voltage (Vt1), comparing to the conventional LDMOS-SCR and LDMOS-SCR embedded a resistance. When key parameters such as the gate-length and resistance are optimized, the Ih increases further from 1.1 A to 1.5 A, while the Vt1 changes insignificantly. The detailed internal mechanism of LDMOS-SCR-RC with regard to key parameters is analyzed numerically by the SENTAURUS simulation. Results confirm that the increased Ih is mainly due to the enhanced RC-coupling effect. Finally, DC measurements conducted with a semiconductor curve tracer also confirm that the LDMOS-SCR-RC with small device area is effective for avoiding latch-up risks. The optimized LDMOS-SCR-RC provides a useful latch-up immune ESD protection solution for HV ICs input/output ports.