Protecting chip interfaces in advanced CMOS nodes against Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) needs dedicated attention. ESD remains an important reliability issue for semiconductor companies. ESD events can occur during several stages in the development, assembly and actual use of the ICs.
Sofics has verified its ESD protection clamps on many advanced CMOS process nodes at several foundries and fabs. Integrating our solutions can enhance your competitive advantage.
Transistors in advanced CMOS processes are very sensitive to ESD stress. Additionally, the conventional ESD approaches are no longer effective.
Moreover, the foundry provided General Purpose I/O libraries introduce contraints. The parasitic capacitance of the integrated ESD protection clamps is too high for interfaces running at speeds beyond 10 Gbps. The leakage current of traditional ESD clamps prevents low-power applications. The I/Os are typically designed for 2kV HBM while many aaplications require more ESD robustness
Transistors in advanced CMOS processes are very sensitive to ESD stress. Additionally, the conventional ESD approaches are no longer effective.
Moreover, the foundry provided General Purpose I/O libraries introduce contraints. The parasitic capacitance of the integrated ESD protection clamps is too high for interfaces running at speeds beyond 10 Gbps. The leakage current of traditional ESD clamps prevents low-power applications.
Sofics IP is used in high bandwidth communication interfaces for wired and optical networks including 28Gbps, 56Gbps SerDes. These interfaces need ESD clamps with low parasitic capacitance. Sofics clamps provide standard ESD robustness and do not require a resistance in the signal path.
Our IP was used for sensor interfaces, battery connections and more. We have delivered solutions for high voltage tolerance (5V or higher) and also protected interfaces based on thin oxide transistors (1V and lower) thanks to a flexible but deterministic solution set.
Customers have integrated Sofics ESD in IoT systems. The leakage of our ESD cells is 100x lower compared to conventional approach. Huge improvements can be made in stand-by, sleep, operational modes and during power-cycles. Sofics has solutions available for interfaces and rail clamps.
Automotive applications typically require higher ESD robustness levels. Sofics ESD technology can be easily scaled to reach higher HBM and CDM protection levels. In some cases the on-chip ESD cells are adapted to sustain contact discharge 8kV IEC 61000-4-2.
Our customers have created amazing products. Examples include high-speed interfaces for datacenter chips (wired and optical), Artificial Intelligence (AI) processors but also for low-power Internet of Things devices.
Blog article “Optimized Local I/O ESD Protection in FinFET Technology for 2.5D and 3D hybrid integration“
Blog article “Optical communication also requires ESD protection“
Press release about our cooperation with Nvidia and ICsense
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