A 6.5kV ESD-protected low noise amplifier in 65-nm CMOS

A new ESD topology is proposed for RF low-noise amplifier (LNA). By using the modified silicon-controlled rectifier (MSCR) in conjunction with a P+/N-well diode clamp, a 5.8-GHz LNA with 6.5-kV ESD protection circuit is demonstrated by a 65-nm CMOS technology. Compared with the reference design, the new topology enhances the ESD level from 3.5 kV to 6.5 kV for human body model (HBM) while the noise figure (NF) is only 0.13 dB higher. Under a supply voltage of 1.2 V and drain current of 6.5 mA, the proposed ESD-protected LNA has a NF of 2.57 dB with an associated power gain of 16.7 dB. The input third-order intercept point (IIP3) is −11 dBm and the input and output return losses are below −15.9 dB and −20 dB, respectively.

[1]  C.C. Russ,et al.  GGSCRs: GGNMOS Triggered silicon controlled rectifiers for ESD protection in deep sub-micron CMOS processes , 2001, 2001 Electrical Overstress/Electrostatic Discharge Symposium.

[2]  Chih-Wei Chen,et al.  A High Gain and Low Supply Voltage LNA for the Direct Conversion Application With 4-KV HBM ESD Protection in 90-nm RF CMOS , 2006, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[3]  P. Wambacq,et al.  An integrated 5 GHz low-noise amplifier with 5.5 kV HBM ESD protection in 90 nm RF CMOS , 2005, Digest of Technical Papers. 2005 Symposium on VLSI Circuits, 2005..

[4]  K. Chatty,et al.  Study of Design Factors Affecting Turn-on Time of Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCRS) in 90 and 65nm Bulk CMOS Technologies , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium Proceedings.

[5]  Dimitri Linten,et al.  A 5 GHz fully integrated ESD-protected low-noise amplifier in 90 nm RF CMOS , 2004 .

[6]  Ming-Hsien Tsai,et al.  A low noise amplifier co-designed with ESD protection circuit in 65-nm CMOS , 2009, 2009 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest.

[7]  D. Linten,et al.  A 5 kV HBM transformer-based ESD protected 5-6 GHz LNA , 2007, 2007 IEEE Symposium on VLSI Circuits.

[8]  Haigang Feng,et al.  ESD protection design for RF integrated circuits: new challenges , 2002, Proceedings of the IEEE 2002 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (Cat. No.02CH37285).

[9]  Haigang Feng,et al.  Characterizing diodes for RF ESD protection , 2004, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[10]  K. Mayaram,et al.  A packaged 2.4 GHz LNA in a 0.15µm CMOS process with 2kV HBM ESD protection , 2002, Proceedings of the 28th European Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[11]  Ming-Dou Ker,et al.  Substrate-triggered SCR device for on-chip ESD protection in fully silicided sub-0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process , 2003 .

[12]  P. Wambacq,et al.  A 5-GHz fully integrated ESD-protected low-noise amplifier in 90-nm RF CMOS , 2004, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.