A High-Voltage Dual Direction Silicon-Controlled Rectifier Based on Flexible Stacking Strategy

Abstract

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a critical factor affecting the reliability of automotive electronic chips. However, the structural design of conventional on-chip high-voltage silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCRs) presents numerous challenges. Currently, there is a lack of a simple ESD solution to address the reliability issues in the aforementioned field. Therefore, this brief proposes a simple high-voltage dual direction SCR (DDSCR). The device can achieve a multiplicative increase in holding voltage ( ${V} _{h}$ ) by flexibly adjusting the ESD characteristics of the unit structure and utilizing a stacked layout of shorting resistors, while the trigger voltage ( ${V} _{{t}{1}}$ ) remains largely unaffected by the number of unit devices connected in series. We validated the effectiveness of the proposed structure using a standard 0.18- $\mu $ m bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process and further analyzed its working principle through technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations. The test results indicated that the proposed stacking strategy demonstrated good versatility, providing a simple and reliable solution for on-chip ESD research in various high-voltage applications.