Bias Temperature Stress (BTS) induced ESD device's leakage issue and Its preventing solutions in smart power technology

A leakage issue induced by Bias Temperature Stress (BTS) is found in a NPN-based ESD clamp. BTS (1.1*Vdd, 125C, 8hrs) can cause an accumulation of drifted ions at an/the STI interface which leads to increased leakage and eventual device failure. TCAD simulation and activation energy extraction model are used to explain the mechanism and two solutions are proposed.