on-chip ESD protection, custom/specialty I/O and PHY circuits
Today, you can find CMOS image sensors almost everywhere in consumer, automotive, health and security applications. There has been a lot of innovation to enable demanding requirements.
The article provides a summary about the 3 main aspects that IC designers need to consider when selecting the ESD protection clamps for their image sensor projects.
EOS, or Electrical Overstress, is any electrical stress that exceeds any of the specified absolute maximum ratings (AMR) of a product.
It is important to discuss because many products are damaged this way.
This article includes case studies and 3 approaches to handle those requests.
There are many different approaches to ensure effective ESD protection for integrated circuits. It is important to select the right approach for each interface and power domain. This article outlines the main options for Interface protection.
For many years, IC designers coult count on the snapback behaviour of the ggNMOS device for ESD protection in mature CMOS nodes (180nm and below).
However, for more advanced CMOS, FinFET, SOI and high voltage processes there are serious drawbacks.
Koen Decock, ESD design specialist at Sofics, made a presentation for a full auditorium, organized by the local IEEE SSCS student chapter in Leuven. He talked about on-chip ESD protection, from the basic concepts to the more advanced applications.
The ESD design window is a concept used by IC designers to define the requirements for the ESD protection devices. This article provides information on the different aspects like robustness, effectiveness and transparency of ESD devices.
IC designers that develop a new integrated circuit have many different foundry and process options. There are several aspects that need to be considered to make a rational decision and select the optimal process. One of those items is on-chip Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection. This article compares the properties of the major ESD device types for 3 process options: CMOS (22nm), thin-film FD-SOI (22nm) and first generation FinFET (16nm) technology.
IC designers that develop a new integrated circuit have many different foundry and process options. There are several aspects that need to be considered to make a rational decision and select the optimal process. One of those items is on-chip Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection. This article compares the properties of the major ESD device types for 3 process options: CMOS (22nm), thin-film FD-SOI (22nm) and first generation FinFET (16nm) technology.
How do you protect chip interfaces that require thin gate (core) transistors in advanced CMOS, SOI of FinFET processes? How do you ensure sufficient ESD robustness? Conventional ESD protection is not sufficient. Discover the background for that and a solution as well in this article. The answer is found in a strategy of local clamping with power-efficient devices.
A growing number of semiconductor applications are turning to 2.5D and 3D integration. Integrating multiple dies in a single package can reduce total power consumption, reduce required PCB area, enhance performance and it can speed up development cycles.
It is important to consider Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection early in the design phase. The 2.5D and 3D hybrid integration introduces new ESD challenges but also opportunities.
SOFICS - Solutions for ICs