ESD protection designs with lowcapacitance consideration for radiofrequency integrated circuits

Ming-Dou Ker*, Chun Yu Lin, Yuan Wen Hsiao

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    Radio-frequency (RF) circuits have been widely designed and fabricated in CMOS processes due to the advantages of high integration and low cost for mass production. Electrostatic discharge (ESD), which has become one of the most important reliability issues in IC products, must be taken into consideration during the design phase of all ICs, including the RF front-end circuits. Without ESD protection circuits at all I/O pads, the RF performance of a wireless transceiver can be easily damaged by ESD stresses, because RF front-end circuits are always fabricated in advanced CMOS processes. Usually the I/O pads are connected to the gate terminal of MOS transistor or silicided drain/source terminal, which leads to a very low ESD robustness if no ESD protection design is applied to the I/O pad. Once the RF front-end circuit is damaged by ESD, it can not be recovered and the RF functionality is lost. Therefore, on-chip ESD protection circuits must be provided for all I/O pads in RF ICs.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationElectrostatics
    Subtitle of host publicationTheory and Applications
    PublisherNova Science Publishers, Inc.
    Pages125-158
    Number of pages34
    ISBN (Print)9781616685492
    StatePublished - 2010

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