{"title":"TCAD Modeling of ESD Diode Overshoot During Ultrafast TLP Events","authors":"Emanuele Groppo;Harald Gossner;Ralf Brederlow","doi":"10.1109/LED.2025.3531797","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This study exploits Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) simulations to investigate the voltage overshoot phenomenon in Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection diodes undergoing fast rise time pulses, which severely threatens integrated circuits reliability. The conventional TCAD approach for diode transient characterization, based on the thermodynamic transport model and neglecting avalanche generation in the forward bias region, is challenged based on a comparative simulation study. A more comprehensive approach relying on the hydrodynamic carrier transport model is proposed, solving mismatches between simulation results and experimental data of scaled devices operating in the picosecond regime. The improved prediction of diode overshoot allows for transient response optimization, which is essential for the tightly constrained protection design of high-speed interfaces. An approximate solution of the Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE) using the Spherical Harmonic Expansion (SHE) method is also carried out to provide more physical insights, and the overshoot dependence on rise time is investigated.","PeriodicalId":13198,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Electron Device Letters","volume":"46 3","pages":"468-471"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"IEEE Electron Device Letters","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10845894/","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study exploits Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) simulations to investigate the voltage overshoot phenomenon in Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection diodes undergoing fast rise time pulses, which severely threatens integrated circuits reliability. The conventional TCAD approach for diode transient characterization, based on the thermodynamic transport model and neglecting avalanche generation in the forward bias region, is challenged based on a comparative simulation study. A more comprehensive approach relying on the hydrodynamic carrier transport model is proposed, solving mismatches between simulation results and experimental data of scaled devices operating in the picosecond regime. The improved prediction of diode overshoot allows for transient response optimization, which is essential for the tightly constrained protection design of high-speed interfaces. An approximate solution of the Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE) using the Spherical Harmonic Expansion (SHE) method is also carried out to provide more physical insights, and the overshoot dependence on rise time is investigated.
期刊介绍:
IEEE Electron Device Letters publishes original and significant contributions relating to the theory, modeling, design, performance and reliability of electron and ion integrated circuit devices and interconnects, involving insulators, metals, organic materials, micro-plasmas, semiconductors, quantum-effect structures, vacuum devices, and emerging materials with applications in bioelectronics, biomedical electronics, computation, communications, displays, microelectromechanics, imaging, micro-actuators, nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, photovoltaics, power ICs and micro-sensors.