Abstract
The signal swing at output pad of some radio-frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PAs) may be higher than the supply voltage. To protect the gigahertz large-swing power amplifier from electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage in nanoscale CMOS process, a large-swing-tolerant ESD protection circuit is presented in this paper. The proposed ESD protection circuit had been designed, fabricated, and characterized in a 65-nm CMOS process, where it can achieve low parasitic capacitance, large swing tolerance, high ESD robustness, and good latchup immunity. The proposed ESD protection circuit had been further applied to a 2.4-GHz PA to provide 3-kV human-body-model (HBM) ESD robustness without degrading the RF performances.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 6381493 |
| Pages (from-to) | 914-921 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Electrostatic discharge (ESD)
- power amplifier (PA)
- radio-frequency (RF)
- silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR)
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiation
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering