A Novel Buried Floating PESD-doped NPN-eSCR Device for Robust High-Voltage ESD Protection

An area-efficient novel Buried Floating PESD-doped (BFP) NPN-embedded Silicon-Controlled Rectifier (NPN-eSCR) device was evaluated for robust High Voltage (HV) Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection in a 130nm GLOBALFOUNDRIES® low-cost BCDLite process. The BFP NPN-eSCR exhibited a unique physical mechanism of device operation (parasitic PNPNPN action with series connected V-SCR and V-NPN). The mechanism was established through Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) simulations and validated with silicon measured Transmission Line Pulse (TLP) results. Best-In-Class (BIC) device performance with high failure current (It2~87.44mA/um), high holding voltage (Vh>12V) and optimized device footprint (square layout - each emitter edge ~30um) are reported as the key Figures of Merit (FOMs).