A new low leakage 3×VDD-tolerant electrostatic discharge(ESD)detection circuit using only low-voltage device without deep N-well is proposed in a standard 90-nm 1.2-V CMOS process.Stacked-transistors technique is adopted to sustain high-voltage stress and reduce leakage current.No NMOSFET operates in high voltage range and it is unnecessary to use any deep N-well.The proposed detection circuit can generate a 38 mA current to turn on the substrate triggered silicon-controlled rectifier(STSCR)under the ESD stress.Under normal operating conditions,all the devices are free from over-stress voltage threat.The leakage current is 88 nA under 3×VDD bias at 25°C.The simulation result shows the circuit can be successfully used for 3×VDD-tolerant I/O buffer.
An electrostatic discharge （ESD） detection circuit with a modified RC network for a 90-nm process clamp circuit is proposed. The leakage current is reduced to 4.6 nA at 25 ℃. Under the ESD event, it injects a 38.7 mA trigger current into the P-substrate to trigger SCR, and SCR can be turned on the discharge of the ESD energy. The capacitor area used is only 4.2 μm2. The simulation result shows that the proposed circuit can save power consumption and layout area when achieving the same trigger efficiency, compared with the previous circuits.
