Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: In this work, the electrostatic discharge (ESD) reliability of the OFF- and ON-state NMOS field-effect transistors in a bulk FinFET technology are investigated. The impacts of source and drain epitaxy influenced by the gate pitch (GP) and the gate length (${L}_{g}$) are studied. In the OFF-state NMOSFET, which is known as grounded-gate NMOS (ggNMOS), the large GP introduces nonuniform epitaxy on source and drain, which cause high power density localization in device. The large${L}_{g}$effectively helps the ESD performance of ggNMOS in ways of better turn-on and contact current uniformity. The ON-state NMOSFET as an active power-rail clamp is also studied in 3-D TCAD simulations. The device shows little difference to transient responses, while the clamping voltage can be different with${L}_{g}$and GPs. With the same gate space, the short${L}_{g}$device has a lower clamping voltage and ON-resistance, which reduces oxide breakdown risk and achieves better ESD performance.
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4285820060