Latch-up free ESD protection design with SCR structure in advanced CMOS technology

An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit with silicon-controlled-rectifier (SCR) device has been designed without latch-up risk. After fabrication in a 0.13-μm CMOS process, the ESD protection circuit with SCR width of 60μm can sustain 6.2kV human-body-model (HBM) and 475V machine model (MM) ESD tests. The latch-up test shows the immunity against 500-mA triggering current under 3.3V supply voltage.