“Predicting Circuit ESD Performance Through SPICE-type

The World Leader in High Performance Signal Processing Solutions

Proprietary InformationProprietary Information

“Predicting Circuit ESD Performance Through SPICE-type Simulations”

Yuanzhong (Paul) Zhou,Thorsten Weyl &

Jean-Jacques (J-J) Hajjar

Analog Devices Inc.

IEEE Electron Device ColloquiumUniversity of Central Florida

February 21-22, 2008

2 —Analog Devices Proprietary Information—

ESD high on Pareto chart of reliability product returns from customers

Predicting ESD performance is very compelling:1) Design tool prior to manufacturing

2) Design verification

3) Post-mortem failure troubleshooting tool

MOTIVATION


What is ESD?

Circuit Simulation Consideration

Compact Modeling Approaches and Modeling Verification

ESD Circuit Simulation Examples

Concluding Remarks

OUTLINE


ESD: Electrostatic Discharge

Cause: Tribo-electric charge transfer

Characteristics

High energy resulting

Large currents

High voltages

Short in duration (typically <1 to over 100 nano-seconds)

What is ESD?

from RTP Company, Winona, MN


SOURCE of ESDi_hbm_0 i_mm_0 i_cdm_4pf

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70time, x1e-9 Seconds

Human touches IC: Human Body Model (HBM)

Charged IC touches grounded surface: Charged Device Model (CDM)

Charged machine touches IC: Machine Model (MM)

10-10 10-410-6 10-5 10-3 10-2 10-1 10010-9 10-8 10-7

EOS

ESD

TIME in SECONDS (LOG SCALE)

HBM(0.3-3 Amp)

MM(2-10 Amp)

"Typical" EOS(0.1-10 Amp)

CDM(3-15 Amp)

DC EOS(0.1-10+Amp)


ESD DAMAGE in ICs (1)MOSFET Gate-Oxide Punch-through

• SEM micrograph depicts NMOS after de-processing.

• Pits are 0.2 to 0.5m in width & correspond to regions where Si flowed into gate oxide.

DRAINCHANNELSOURCE

Channel

Drain

Source

N+DRAINN+SOURCE

POLY

PSUB

STI STI

GATE OXIDE

METAL

GATE OXIDE DAMAGE


ESD DAMAGE in ICs (2)Junction Damage/Contact Spiking

• SEM micrograph depicts NMOS after de-processing.

DRAIN-CHANNELJUNCTION DAMAGE

DRAINCONTACTSPIKING

DRAINCHANNELSOURCE

N+SOURCE

POLY

PSUB

STI STI

GATE OXIDE

METAL

DRAIN CONTACTSPIKING

DRAIN-CHANNELJUNCTION DAMAGE

N+DRAIN


OBJECTIVE:1. Shunt current

discharges awayfrom the CORE CIRCUIT

2. Clamps I/O & Power pad voltage to a safe level

On-Chip ESD PROTECTION SCHEMES

IN OUT

VDD

VSS

CORE CIRCUITE

SD

ES

D

ES

D

ES

DE

SD

VDDVSS


IN OUT

VDD

VSS

CORE CIRCUIT

On-Chip ESD PROTECTION SCHEMESAn Example


Circuit Simulation Considerations

Impact of ESD structure on I/O and core circuits.

ESD current paths.

Impact of internal circuitry on ESD protection performance.

Optimization to reduce ESD over design.


Circuit Simulation Approach

SPICE is a Primary Tool for Circuit Level Simulation

ESD–capable Compact Device model

Modeling physical phenomenon particular to ESD:

Breakdown

Snapback

…


Major Challenges (1)

Devices operate in unintended bias space:

high voltages

very large currents

VOLTAGE

CU

RR

EN

T

DEVICE FAILURE

INTENDED OPERATION

AVALANCE CURRENT (VMAX, IMAX)

0

MOSFET CHARACTERISTICS



Device operation highly dependent on layout. ESD NMOS – DESIGN SPACE

Width Gate length w/ or w/o RPO in drain Drain side CTP Gate stripes Substrate contact

CONT

NSD

WF

NF=2

RPO

SUBST

CONT-TO-POLY (CTP)

POLY

ESD NMOS



Thermal effects important

Parasitics (L, C & R) critical due to fast-transient nature of ESD: Interconnect Package Board Test fixture …


What Devices to Model?

Primary Protection Devices1) MOS2) SCR3) Bipolar4) Diodes5) Resistors

Modeling Strategy1) Modify standard Compact models2) Customized Model


Snapback in ESD Devices

Operating I-V Regions of MOS Devices1) Linear Region2) Saturation Region3) Avalanche Region 4) Snapback Region5) Failure Region

Vt1 represents the “snapback effect”trigger voltage

Devices (MOS) operating in “snapback” mode carries more current per unit width

VDRAIN

I DR

AIN

DEVICE

REGION-1

0

REGION-2

REGION-3

REGION-4

GATE BIAS

Vt1

REGION-5

FAILS


Snapback Effect in MOS is due to the Parasitic BJT, triggered by the substrate current (ISUB).

Snapback in MOS Devices

N+N+P+

POLY

VS

VG

VD

PSUB

STI STISTI

ISUB

N+N+P+

POLY

VS

VG

VD

PSUB

STI STISTI

RSUB

LNPN

IC

ISD

ISUB


Substrate current as function of VDS, VGS

and VBS

Due to impact ionization in Drain/Backgatedepletion layer.

Avalanche current multiplication factor is different before and after snapback

Displacement current (dV/dt) through Drain/Backgate junction

Gate induced drain leakage (GIDL)

Critical Effects in Snapback Modeling


Standard MOS and BJT models.

An explicit current source which is a function of VGSand VDS

(dV/dt) effect, GIDL and separate M for MOS and BJT are included in some models by adding equations.

The implementation of the models includes C code and behavioral languages (Verilog-A)

Previous Snapback Models

G

DS

B

RdRs

Rsub

Igen

Ic

Ids

Id=Ids+Ic+Igen

Isub

Ib


Model for MOS under ESD Stress

New approach eliminates the current source of previous models.

Model constructed of standard BJT (Mextram) and MOS (BSIM4) devices.

Models intrinsically includes all major physical phenomenon presented.

Source/Backgate and Drain/Backgate Junction Diodes for completeness.

G

BSIM4Mextram

Ib

BiIsub_total

Rsub

Isub+Igidl

Id=Id'+Ic

Ic

Ids

Id'

S

D

B

S/B diode

D/B diode


Model Verification

Transmission Line Pulse measurement:

Quasi-static

Transient


Transmission Line Pulse (TLP)Measurement Setup

+-

High voltage supply

Transmission Line; Z0 = 50

DUT

Termination

VDUT (t)

IDUT (t)

Current Probe

100 ns

t rise

VTLP

ITLP

VTLP

ITLP

ZT1

ZT2 ZATT

.......

time

I


Why Transmission Line Pulse?

0

1

2

0 100 200TIME (nsec)

CURRENT (A)

2,000V HBM

TLP


Model Verification Snapback effect was simulated with transient simulation. Voltage Pulse Sequence (100ns) were used as the Input. The stabilized VD and ID were measured as the simulation

results (~80ns).

Schematic of Snapback Simulation(R=0 for ggNMOS)Voltage

source

50

R

TLP DUT

ID

VD

VHD


Simulation Results vs. TLP MeasurementA ggNMOS device

50

Id Vd GGNMOS Configuration


Deep submicron CMOS Model Scalability

W = 300m 0.18 < L < 0.30 m Stripes = 12 Wrap-around backgate contact

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8VOLTAGE (V)

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

10

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1 CURRENT (A)

L=0.18m

L=0.30m

L=0.20m

VB3

VB2

VB1

MOS CHARACTERISTICS & MODEL

G

S

D

BG

GGNMOS


0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8VOLTAGE (V)

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1 CURRENT (A)

GCNMOSR=10k

GGNMOSR=0

VB2

VB1

Deep submicron CMOS W/L = 300/0.18m; Stripes = 12

GGNMOS GCNMOS

100ns TLP: Sim vs. msmt

MOS CHARACTERISTICS & MODEL

R=10k G

S

D

BGG

S

D

BG


SCR Devices

N+ P+ P+

Nwell

Rnwell Pwell

Rpwell

CATHODE ANODE

N+

Rnwell

Rpwell

npn

pnp

CATHODE

ANODE

N+ N+ N+ P+ P+

Nwell

Rnwell Pwell

Rpwell

CATHODE ANODE

Rnwell

Rpwell

npn

pnpnmos

CATHODE

ANODE

SCR LVTSCR


Macro Model for LVTSCR Similar approach to MOS New model consists of four components: An NMOS modeled by BSIM4 A four terminal NPN modeled by Mextram Two resistors

BSIM4

MEXTRAM


Key effects in New LVTSCR Macro Model

The PNP is modeled by the parasitic BJT in the 4 terminal NPN modeled by a Mextram-like model

Current sources for avalanche and GIDL are intrinsically built in MOS and BJT models

Decoupled multiplication factors for BJT and MOS are included in IAVL and ISUB respectively

The dV/dt effect is modeled by Collector/Base junction capacitance of the BJT

IGEN = IAVL + ISUB + IGIDL


CMOS: SCR-1

100nsec TLP Pulse Different pulse rise-time

SCR CHARACTERISTICS & MODEL

VDUT (t)

IDUT (t)

100 ns

t rise VTLP

ITLP

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8VOLTAGE (V)

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

=10nsec.

=2nsec.

=0.2nsec.

VB1

VB2

VB3

CURRENT (A)


-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

0

10

20

30

40

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8TIME (nsec.)

CU

RR

EN

T(A

)V

OL

TA

GE

(V)

SIMULATED

MEASURED

SCR CHARACTERISTICS & MODEL

CMOS: SCR-1

VFTLP: SCR ADICE Simulation vs. measurement


CIRCUIT SIMULATIONHuman Body Model (HBM)

Simulates the discharge from the finger of a standing person

IPEAK = ~0.67 A/kV, tRISE ~ 5-9ns, tDELAY = ~150 nsec.

Modeled by a Lumped Element Model (LEM)

S

DUTCESD=100pF Ct=10pFVHBM

Ls=7.5H

Cs=1pF

RHB=1500100%

90%

10%

CU

RR

EN

T

TIME

36.8%

tRISE tDELAY

HBM

LEM


SPICE Simulation ExamplesI/O Cell – Circuit

VSS

IA

VDD

RCTimer

D1

D2

MP0

MN0

R ?

TGATE

MN1


SPICE Simulation ExamplesI/O Cell – Simulation

WPMOS~2WNMOS

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

time, 10-9 sec.

Current (10-3 Amp)

MP0 - R=5

MN0 - R=5

MN0 - R=0

FAILURE REGION

FAILURE REGION

MP0 - R=0


SPICE Simulation ExamplesBlock Level

IAIB

VDD

VSSInternal Circuit

ES

D

ES

DE

SD

Sw

itch

1_B

ank_

0

Sw

itch

1_B

ank_

31

Sw

itch

2_B

ank_

0

Sw

itch

2_B

ank_

19


SPICE Simulation ExamplesBlock Level – Original Design Fails 1,000V HBM

IA

IB

VDD

VDD 51 x PMOS BANKS

Internal Circuit

Idmp3

Sub

Cel

l

Idmp5

VDD


SPICE Simulation ExamplesBlock Level – Simulation Results – Fails 1,000V

0

1

2

3

4

5

100 140 180 220 260 300

MP5

MP3

CURRENT DENSITY (mA/m)

TIME (nsec.)


SPICE Simulation ExamplesBlock Level – Revised Design Passes 1,500V HBM

IA

IB

VDD

VDD51 x PMOS BANKS

Internal Circuit

Idmp3

Sub

Cel

l

Idmp5

VDDClamp


SPICE Simulation ExamplesBlock Level – Simulation Results


SPICE Simulation ExamplesSystem Level - A 24-bit - converter


SPICE Simulation ExamplesSystem Level - HBM Stress between VDD1 and VDD2

ESD ESD

ESD_GND


SPICE Simulation ExamplesSystem Level – Original Design Fails 700V HBM

failingdevice

floating gates

ESD_GND

VDD1

VSS1

RCTimer

VDD2

VSS2

RCTimer

> 95 %

CORE


SPICE Simulation ExamplesSystem Level – Simulation Highlights Core Circuitry Failure.

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

0

2

4

6

8

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

time, 10-9 sec.

10

-3

Current (Amp)

HBM=750V

PROTECTION DEVICE

FAILING CORE DEVICE


SPICE Simulation ExamplesSystem Level – Revised Design, 2,000V HBM Level Predicted

ESD_GND

VDD1

VSS1

RCTimer

VDD2

VSS2

RCTimer

CORE

RCTimer


SPICE Simulation ExamplesSystem Level – Simulation predicts failure above 2,000V HBM

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

0

2

4

6

8

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

10

-3HBM=2,000V

PROTECTION DEVICE

FAILING CORE DEVICE

time, 10-9 sec.

Current (Amp)


ESD is an important product reliability concern.

Compact Modeling approach for accurate modeling of MOS & SCR devices Uses Industry standard Models Simple Implementation

Successful SPICE-type circuit simulation of ESD event: Design ESD Protection Cells Predict ESD Performance Confirm and fix known ESD failures

SUMMARY


END

Documents

“Predicting Circuit ESD Performance Through SPICE-type