A GaN Lateral Bidirectional ESD Clamp Based on the Floating-Gate MBS and a Regulating Capacitor

This work presents a GaN lateral bidirectional electrostatic discharge (ESD) clamp (B-ESD-C1), featuring a floating-gate monolithic bidirectional switch (MBS) and a regulating capacitor (
${C}_{\text {GG}}$
) in parallel connection between two floating gates. In different directional ESD events, B-ESD-C1 with
${C}_{\text {GG}}$
of 10 pF is provided with a low triggering voltage (
${V}_{\text {trig}}$
) of about 10 V and a second breakdown current (
${I}_{\text {s}}$
) of 5 A. Although the presented B-ESD-C1 exhibits similar ESD robustness with the clamp based on two p-GaN HEMTs and two regulating capacitors, the presented clamp possesses a smaller chip area and shows an improved consistency in its forward and reverse ESD robustness. It is also proven that the regulating capacitor of the presented B-ESD-C1 pays an important role on its
${V}_{\text {trig}}$
and
${I}_{\text {s}}$
. Through changing the regulating capacitor, an expected
${V}_{\text {trig}}$
can be acquired. Furthermore, the possible fabrication process of the presented B-ESD-C1 can be same as that of p-GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT), making the ESD design more convenient.