Multigate ESD Protection Transistor Trigger Voltage Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multigate field effect transistor circuits are susceptible to damage from electrostatic discharge (ESD) due to their poor thermal properties, which are exacerbated by small geometrical structures and thermal insulation, necessitating effective ESD protection to prevent damage and ensure safe energy dissipation without harming the protection circuit.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a multigate ESD protection field effect transistor with a partially depleted charge carrier structure, which has a lower trigger voltage than the functional multigate transistor, to securely protect the circuit by modulating the ESD trigger voltage and improving thermal properties for handling large ESD currents, while maintaining a simple design and layout.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a multigate field effect transistor is used for functional circuit, then device integration and scaling are improved, but susceptibility to ESD damage increases due to poor thermal properties
Solution Approach 1:
A dedicated ESD protection circuit is introduced as an intermediary component between the ESD source and the sensitive multigate functional circuit. This protection circuit includes a multigate field effect transistor specifically designed with lower trigger voltage to activate first and shunt ESD current away from the functional circuit, thereby mediating the harmful ESD effect before it reaches the integrated device
2Reliability
If ESD protection circuit is added to protect functional circuit, then ESD damage is prevented, but trigger competition may occur between protection and functional circuits
Solution Approach 1:
The multigate field effect transistor in the ESD protection circuit is designed with locally optimized properties - specifically a lower trigger voltage compared to the functional circuit transistor. This local quality differentiation ensures that the protection circuit activates first during ESD events, resolving the trigger competition issue while maintaining design simplicity through targeted parameter adjustment
3Volume of moving object
If multigate transistor geometry is reduced for scaling, then device size is decreased, but thermal properties deteriorate leading to poor ESD handling
Solution Approach 1:
The device is segmented into two distinct functional parts: a compact multigate functional transistor for integrated circuit operations, and a separate ESD protection transistor with optimized geometry for thermal handling. The protection transistor can have different dimensional characteristics (such as larger area or different aspect ratio) to improve thermal properties and ESD current dissipation capability, while the functional transistor maintains small geometry for scaling
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic circuit and method for producing the electronic circuit, where the electronic circuit includes a functional circuit including at least one multigate functional field effect transistor and an ESD protection circuit including at least one multigate ESD protection field effect transistor. The multigate protection field effect transistor is a transistor that is partially depleted of electrical charge carriers, and the trigger voltage of the multigate protection field effect transistor is less than the trigger voltage of the multigate functional field effect transistor.