Reduced RC Time Constant High Voltage Tolerant Supply Clamp for ESD Protection in 16nm FinFET Technology

This work presents an active feedback-based high voltage tolerant (5 V) supply clamp for ESD protection in 16-nm FinFET CMOS technology. The proposed trigger circuit biases the BigFETs for maximum ESD robustness and employs positive feedback to maintain the clamp in the on-state such that the clamp can shunt the ESD current for the duration of an HBM event. Negative feedback circuitry is employed to turn the clamp off in case of mistriggering. The clamp is shown to be capable of discharging up to 4-kV HBM current.