High-Current Characterization of Polysilicon Diode for Electrostatic Discharge Protection in Sub-Quarter-Micron Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Technology

Polysilicon diodes used in sub-quarter-micron complementary MOS (CMOS) technologies are characterized by transmission line pulse (TLP) measurement to investigate device characteristics in a high-current regime. The second-breakdown current (It2) of the polysilicon diode shows good linear dependence on the device junction perimeter. When the polysilicon diodes are connected in a stacked configuration for reducing parasitic capacitance, the stacked polysilicon diodes show no degradation in electrostatic discharge (ESD) robustness compared with a single polysilicon diode. Such CMOS process-compatible polysilicon diodes have been used as on-chip ESD protection devices for GHz rf circuits. 7 refs.