A Simulation Study of Bipolar I-MOS for ESD Protection

In this brief, using calibrated 2-D simulations we are reporting the use of bipolar impact ionization MOS (BIMOS) for electrostatic discharge (ESD) design. For the ESD realization, the gate of the BIMOS is connected to the ground potential, therefore, the device is referred to as the gate grounded BIMOS (GGBIMOS). The GGBIMOS ESD device exhibits a trigger voltage of <3 V, and a hold voltage of >2 V. Also, through 2 kV human body model (HBM) simulation, we have demonstrated that the GGBIMOS ESD device eliminates ESD stress within 3 mu s and the maximum temperature reached during the event is approximately 720 K which is well within the failure limits. Therefore, the results demonstrated in this brief can pave the way for future ESD design based on the BIMOS device for the technology nodes where the maximum voltage handling capacity of the input-output (I/O) driver is in the range of 1.2-1.8 V.

Automated summary

This paper presents the use of calibrated 2-D simulations to explore the application of bipolar impact ionization MOS (BIMOS) in electrostatic discharge (ESD) design. By grounding the gate of the BIMOS, a gate grounded BIMOS (GGBIMOS) ESD device is created, which exhibits a low trigger voltage and high hold voltage and has been validated through human body model (HBM) simulation. Therefore, these results provide a foundation for future ESD design based on BIMOS devices.