A Novel SCR Topology of Embedded Bipolar Transistor With High-Holding Voltage and High-Temperature Tolerance for ESD Protection

Automotive electronics typically operate in high-temperature environments with significant electrostatic interference, which increases the reliability requirements for on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. To better address these challenging conditions, this article presents a novel sili...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE transactions on electron devices Vol. 72; no. 9; pp. 1 - 7
Main Authors Liu, Yujie, Wang, Yang, Zhang, Ke, Yang, Jian, Jin, Xiangliang
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.09.2025
Subjects
Automotive electronics
bipolar transistor
Bipolar transistors
Discharges (electric)
electrostatic discharge (ESD)
Electrostatic discharge protection
Impact ionization
Junctions
Power system management
Robustness
Semiconductor process modeling
silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR)
Topology
Transistors
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Summary:Automotive electronics typically operate in high-temperature environments with significant electrostatic interference, which increases the reliability requirements for on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. To better address these challenging conditions, this article presents a novel silicon-controlled rectifier topology of embedded bipolar transistor (SCRTEBT) for ESD protection. The ESD performance of the SCRTEBT device is significantly enhanced by combining bipolar-transistor current paths and modulating the current gain of parasitic n-p-n transistors. Test results indicate that the SCRTEBT has a high-holding voltage of 10.83 V, while also providing a narrow ESD window (~2.37 V), and excellent high-temperature tolerance. The device concept can have applications for implementing systems subject to electrical overstress conditions and required to operate in harsh environments such as automotive.
ISSN:0018-9383
1557-9646
DOI:10.1109/TED.2025.3586260