Yiqun Cao

A failure levels study of non-snapback ESD devices for automotive applications

Snapback ESD devices suffer from increasing danger when the protected ICs experience ESD events in powered up states. To ensure more reliable ESD protections, non-snapback ESD structures are gaining more importance in the field of automotive ESD design. Two types of on-chip non-snapback ESD devices, pn-diodes and active FET structures are investigated in this work regarding their failure levels. Characteristics of the ESD devices as well as electrical SOA of an nLDMOS are evaluated and discussed in detail with TCAD electro-thermal simulation, SPICE circuit simulation and mainly TLP measurements. Comparison of the efficiency of different ESD protections considering ESD window is also given, delivering the basic idea of choosing the right ESD devices in automotive applications.

A 2kV ESD-Protected 18GHz LNA with 4dB NF in 0.13μm CMOS

As the frequency spectrum below 10GHz is becoming extremely crowded alternative higher frequency bands are getting a large attention despite their associated high dispersion losses and need for a direct line-of-sight. Recently, numerous published work have targeted the free spectrum at 60GHz, but near-future commercial applications may prefer the frequency bands at 17 to 17.2GHz (ETSI) and/or 24 to 24.2GHz (ISM band) to enable the use of cheap package options (VQFN or flip-chip), and classical board- and antenna-mounting techniques.

Robustness of ESD protection structures against automotive transient disturbances

Predicting if an ESD protection structure is able to handle transient disturbances without being destroyed is very important in order to select the right protection concept for ICs. This paper shows how the energy content of typical automotive transient disturbances can be predicted and how the failure power of an ESD protection structure was derived from measurements and calculations. It shows to what extent a standard ESD protection structure is able to handle ISO 7637 automotive test pulses of much higher energies.

A TLP-based Human Metal Model ESD-generator for device qualification according to IEC 61000-4-2

In the last years system-level electrostatic discharges tests according to IEC 61000-4-2 have become widely used for component ESD qualification although it suffers from poor reproducibility. To minimize the disadvantages a so called Human Metal Model (HMM) measurement technique is momentarily in discussion and the standardization committee (SP5.6, ESDA) is working on its definition. The current stress waveform of HMM is identical to the IEC 61000-4-2 one. In this paper a new HMM pulse generator set-up based on a TLP pulse generator will be discussed. To get a deeper insight in the HMM method, discrete components, on-chip ESD test structures as well as a LIN transceiver were evaluated with this technique. The gained measurement results are compared with those resulting out of the IEC tests.

Novel Active ESD Clamps for High-Voltage Applications

Large power MOS transistors (bigMOS) have potential electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection capabilities and are often used in actively controlled ESD clamps. In high-voltage and especially automotive applications ranging typically from 10 to 100 V operation voltage, statically triggered active ESD clamps are often used due to their false triggering safety. This paper presents novel statically triggered active ESD clamps, which rely on advanced trigger circuits optimizing the gate control of the bigMOS. With enhanced tailoring to the application requirements, the active ESD clamps substantially improve clamp area efficiency and significantly reduce ESD window requirements.

A compact low-power 24 GHz transceiver for radar applications in 0.13 µm CMOS

This paper presents a compact low-power transceiver for 24 GHz radar applications integrated in 0.13 μm CMOS technology. The high integration level includes a low-noise amplifier (LNA), two mixers, on-chip quadrature generation, a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), a power amplifier (PA) driver and frequency division by four at a record minimal area of 0.7 mm2. The direct-conversion receiver offers a conversion gain of 12 dB and a DSB noise figure of 5.5 dB, whilst the transmitter provides an output power of -3 dBm with a phase noise of -101 dBc/Hz. The circuit consumes only 88 mW from a single 1.5 V supply.

A 24GHz FMCW radar transmitter in 0.13 μm CMOS

A transmitter for 24 GHz ISM applications integrated in 0.13 mum CMOS is presented. The high integration level includes VCO, PA and division by four at a record minimal area of 0.3 mm2. Measurements of the mounted chip including bondwires show an output power of +6 dBm with a phase noise of -102 dBc/Hz@1 MHz offset at a power consumption of 64 mW from a single 1.5 V supply.

How to build a Generic Model of complete ICs for system ESD and electrical stress simulation

For precise system ESD simulation the transient chip behavior needs to be modeled accurately. As there are several typical characteristics possible (e.g. diode breakdown, snapback-element or forward diode) a straight forward methodology to build a generic model for transient behavior with destruction limits in SPICE is presented. This enables full-system transient ESD and electrical stress simulation for system robustness evaluation.

Active clamp design for on-chip GUN protection

On-chip active clamps show attractive performance for the component-level ESD protection like HBM, but suffer usually from their weakness for short-pulse and high-current events like the first peak of IEC 61000-4-2 (GUN) pulses. This disadvantage can be overcome by adequate active clamp design, resulting in an area efficient active clamp GUN protection.