Transmission line with integrated symmetrical 1-kV HBM DC - 100 GHz ESD protection in advanced CMOS technologies

Advanced CMOS technologies provide an easier way to realize radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). However, transistor gates are getting smaller and electrostatic discharges (ESD) issues become more significant. Unfortunately, ESD protections parasitic capacitance limits the operating bandwidth of the RFICs. ESD protection size dimensions are also an issue to protect RFICs. This paper presents for the first time an ESD solution (DC-100 GHz) able to be implemented in an I/O pad to protect RFICs in advanced CMOS technologies.