Low parasitic capacitance

Sofics technology has been applied for many different applications. Specifically for high-speed interfaces or high-bandwidth wireless applications the parasitic capacitance of the ESD cells need to be as low as possible.

Sofics solutions typically have 30% to 50% lower capacitance compared to the foundry solutions with the same ESD robustness.

Contact us (info@sofics.com) to discuss your application.
We can enable high bandwidth circuits through ESD protection with low-parasitic capacitance

Log-log plot showing parasitic capacitance of the ESD clamp versus ESD robustness from different IP delivery projects, across foundries, process nodes. In many cases the Sofics IP achieves a drastic reduction of the parasitic capacitance compared to traditional ESD solutions in the PDK.

Examples in different processes

Examples for different process nodes are shown below. This is just a subset of cells proven on silicon and in mass production.
All cells can be ported to other processes. The actual numbers (ESD robustness, leakage, capacitance, area) may vary slightly, also depending on the circuit to be protected, process and voltage level.

Mature CMOS (0.5um to 180nm)

Process	Pad	ESD robustness	Parasitic capacitance
TSMC 180nm	1.8V I/O	> 5 kV HBM	< 300 fF
TSMC 180nm	5V I/O	> 8 kV HBM	300 fF
TSMC 180nm	7V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	< 200 fF
TowerSemi 350nm	4.5V I/O	> 8 kV HBM	< 550 fF

Mainstream CMOS (130nm to 65 nm)

Process	Pad	ESD robustness	Parasitic capacitance
TSMC 130nm	1.2V I/O	> 4 kV HBM	< 100 fF
TSMC 130nm	1.2 I/O OVT	> 2 kV HBM	< 50 fF
UMC 130nm	1.2V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	< 150 fF
TSMC 90nm	3.3V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	< 100 fF
TSMC 65nm	1.8V I/O	> 4 kV HBM	< 100 fF
TSMC 65nm	1.0V I/O	> 3 kV HBM	< 70 fF
GF 65nm	1.2V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	< 50 fF
GF 65nm	3.3V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	< 50 fF

Advanced CMOS (40 to 22nm)

Process	Pad	ESD robustness	Parasitic capacitance
TSMC 40nm	3.3V I/O	> 5 kV HBM	< 180 fF
TSMC 40nm	1.2V I/O	> 4 kV HBM	< 180 fF
TSMC 40nm	1.8V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	< 70 fF
TSMC 28nm	0.85V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	< 100 fF
TSMC 28nm	1.0V I/O	> 100 V HBM	< 11 fF
TSMC 28nm	1.0V I/O	> 200 V HBM	< 15 fF
TSMC 28nm	1.5V I/O	> 1 kV HBM	< 60 fF
UMC 28nm	1.0V I/O	> 1.5 kV HBM	65 fF
TSMC 22nm	0.8V I/O	> 8 kV HBM	< 500 fF

FinFET technology

Process	Pad	ESD robustness	Parasitic capacitance
TSMC 16nm	1.0V I/O	> 1 kV HBM	80 fF
TSMC 16nm	1.0V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	100 fF
TSMC 12nm	1.8V I/O	> 3 kV HBM	300 fF
TSMC 12nm	0.8V I/O	> 1 kV HBM	100 fF
TSMC 7nm	0.9V I/O	> 400 V HBM	50 fF
TSMC 7nm	0.9V I/O	> 150 V HBM	15 fF
TSMC 7nm	0.9V I/O	> 80 V HBM	10 fF
TSMC 6nm	0.9V I/O	> 100 V HBM	13 fF
TSMC 5nm	0.9V I/O	> 1 kV HBM	90 fF
TSMC 5nm	1.8V I/O	> 150 V HBM	14 fF
Samsung 4nm	1.2V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	230 fF
Samsung 4nm	1.2V I/O	> 5 kV HBM	170 fF
Samsung 4nm	1.8V / 3.3V I/O	> 5 kV HBM	79 fF

Nanosheet technology

Process	Pad	ESD robustness	Parasitic capacitance
TSMC 2nm	0.75V I/O	> 150 V HBM	< 30 fF
TSMC 2nm	1.2V I/O	> 150 V HBM	< 35 fF
TSMC 2nm	1.2V I/O	> 210 V HBM	< 36 fF

BiCMOS technology

Process	Pad	ESD robustness	Parasitic capacitance
GF 9HP	2.5V I/O	> 2 kV HBM	< 50 fF
GF 9HP	2.5V I/O	> 200 V HBM	< 10 fF
GF 9HP	2.5V I/O	500 V HBM	< 10 fF

These are examples from many different IP delivery projects. If you did not find the example you were looking for you should contact us (info@sofics.com) to discuss your application and requirements.
We can enable high bandwidth circuits through ESD protection with low-parasitic capacitance

Testimonial: DecaWave – Now Qorvo

DW1000 ultra-wideband radio transceiver
Indoor positioning for tracking patients in hospitals or locating stock in warehouses

William McFadden, VP Operations

“The chip needs robust protection against the ESD, without compromising its high-speed performance. Sofics was far more cost-effective than other approaches to ESD protection and delivered a customized solution in less than a week.”

Testimonial: RedMere Technology

Ultra low power interconnect solutions
Active cable: signal processing technology for HDMI

Peter Smyth, CEO of RedMere Technology

“Sofics IP enabled RedMere to quickly and economically increase our IC ESD performance to a new HDMI industry standard of 8kV HBM without compromising the stringent operation requirements of a 3.4Gbps data channel,”