High ESD robustness

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High ESD robustness

Sofics has supported many companies to enhance the robustness level of their ICs beyond the standard 2kV HBM.
Typical applications with higher ESD robustness include automotive electronics, medical devices. But also some consumer products need higher robustness like anything with USB, HDMI, DisplayPort interfaces. This includes higher robustness against HBM, MM or CDM. But in several cases the customer required on-chip robustness against system level ESD protection (IEC 61000-4-2).

Examples

Sofics ESD technology can easily scale to any ESD robustness level.

4kV and 6kV HBM for some medical applications

6kV HBM for timing controller applications

8kV HBM for HDMI/DisplayPort applications

6kV and 8kV IEC 61000-4-2 for automotive applications

The failure current of the proprietary SCR devices can be increased simply by making the device larger. The plot shows this linear behavior.

TLP HBM IEC 61000-4-2 Width x Height Area
2 A 2.8 kV 35um x 22um 770 um²
3.6 A 5 kV 35um x 38um 1330 um²
7 A 10 kV 60um x 40um 2400 um²
8 kV 120um x 54um 6480 um²
12 kV 175um x 54um 9450 um²

Example robustness levels in TSMC 65nm CMOS technology for 1.2V Diode Triggered SCR devices of different layout sizes.

Mature CMOS (0.5um to 180nm)

Process Pad ESD robustness Leakage
TSMC 180nm 1.8V I/O >5 kV HBM < 200 pA
TSMC 180nm 5V I/O > 8 kV HBM < 5 nA
TowerSemi 350nm 4.5V I/O > 8 kV HBM < 100 pA
TowerSemi 350nm 4.5V rail > 8 kV HBM < 100 pA

Mainstream CMOS (130nm to 65nm)

Process Pad ESD robustness Leakage
TSMC 130nm 1.2V rail > 370 V MM < 50 pA
TSMC 130nm 3.3V rail > 4.5 kV HBM < 10 nA
TSMC 130nm 3.3V I/O > 8 kV HBM < 1 nA
UMC 130nm 1.2V I/O > 4 kV HBM < 10 nA
TSMC 65nm 1.2V rail > 7 kV HBM < 1 nA
UMC 65nm 2.5V rail > 7.5 kV HBM < 10 nA

Advanced CMOS (40nm to 22nm)

Process Pad ESD robustness Leakage
TSMC 40nm 0.9V I/O > 5 kV HBM < 10 pA
TSMC 40nm 1.2V I/O > 5 kV HBM < 10 pA
TSMC 40nm 3.3V I/O > 4 kV HBM < 500 pA
TSMC 28nm 0.9V I/O > 8 kV IEC 61000-4-2 < 10 nA
TSMC 22nm 0.8V rail > 8 kV HBM < 10 nA
TSMC 22nm 0.8V I/O > 8 kV HBM < 10 nA
TSMC 22nm 1.8V rail > 8 kV HBM < 10 nA
TSMC 22nm 3.3V rail > 8 kV HBM < 10 nA
TSMC 22nm 3.3V I/O > 8 kV IEC 61000-4-2 < 10 nA

FinFET technology

Process Pad ESD robustness Leakage
TSMC 16nm 1.8V rail > 4 kV HBM < 500 pA
TSMC 16nm 1.2V I/O > 4 kV IEC 61000-4-2 < 50 pA

SOI technology

Process Pad ESD robustness Leakage
GF 22FDX 3.3V rail > 5 kV HBM < 10 pA
GF 22FDX 3.3V I/O > 2 kV HBM < 500 pA
GF 22FDX 5V rail > 4 kV HBM < 10 nA

BiCMOS technology

Process Pad ESD robustness Parasitic capacitance
TSMC 130nm 1.2V I/O > 4 kV HBM < 100 fF
TSMC 130nm 1.2V 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 > 2kV 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

BCD technology

Process Pad Holding voltage ESD robustness Area
TSMC 250nm BCD 45V I/O 49V > 5 kV HBM 36800 um²
TSMC 250nm BCD LIN I/O 27V > 4 kV HBM 4400 um²
> 9 kV IEC 61000-4-2 15500 um²
> 13.5 kV IEC 61000-4-2 29500 um²
UMC 180nm BCD 24V I/O 27V 6.5 kV HBM 44000 um²
TSMC 180nm BCD 18V I/O 23.5V > 4 kV IEC 61000-4-2 33450 um²
TSMC 180nm BCD Industrial CAN 25V > 10 kV HBM 96000 um²
TSMC 180nm BCD 55V I/O 50V > 4.8 kV IEC 61000-4-2 64500 um²

Customer quotes