Current Filament Dynamics Under ESD Stress in High Voltage (Bidirectional) SCRs and It's Implications on Power Law Behavior

Physical Insights into the early formation of current filaments in High Voltage SCR is presented. Repeated current filamentation and subsequent filament spreading, which in turn results in filament motion, is detected using 3D TCAD. Impact of different load lines on ESD robustness and filament dynamics with ESD stress duration has been studied using experiments and 3D TCAD simulations. Finally, impact of silicide blocking in mitigating filament strength has been studied, which in turn improves the ESD robustness.