Design of dual-band ESD protection for 24-/60-GHz millimeter-wave circuits

To effectively protect the millimeter-wave (MMW) circuits in nanoscale CMOS technology from electrostatic discharge (ESD) damages, a dual-band ESD protection cell for 24-/60-GHz ESD protection is presented in this paper. The proposed ESD protection cell consisted of a diode, a silicon-controlled rectifier, a PMOS, and two inductors. To verify the dual-band characteristics and ESD robustness, the proposed ESD protection circuit had been applied to a 24-/60-GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA). The measurement results showed over-2-kV human-body-model ESD robustness with little performance degradation on LNA. The proposed dual-band ESD protection cell was suitable for circuit designers for them to easily apply ESD protection in the dual-band MMW circuits.