Bidirectional Devices for Automotive-Grade Electrostatic Discharge Applications

Abstract

High bidirectional holding-voltage clamps are introduced for applications operating in harsh environments. The clamps' terminals are formed with complementary doped 3-D "T" pattern and island active regions. Transmission-line-pulsed current in the ranges of ±0.15 and ±0.39 mA/μm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> is demonstrated for ±40- and ±25-V holding-voltage clamps, respectively. The high bidirectional holding voltage is optimized without increasing spacing between the terminals of the devices, achieving a compact clamp architecture successfully codesigned with advanced transceiver circuits.