Freescale Semiconductor,inc.

Huy Van Pham

James David Burnett

Jianan Yang

Brad John Garni

Thomas W Liston

A technique for addressing single-event latch-up (SEL) in a semiconductor device includes determining a location of a parasitic silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) in an integrated circuit design of the semiconductor device. In this case, the parasitic SCR includes a parasitic pnp bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and a parasitic npn BJT. The technique also includes incorporating a first transistor between a first power supply node and an emitter of the parasitic pnp BJT in the integrated circuit design. The first transistor includes a first terminal coupled to the first power supply node, a second terminal coupled to the emitter of the parasitic pnp BJT, and a control terminal. The first transistor is not positioned between a base of the pnp BJT and the first power supply node. The first transistor limits current conducted by the parasitic pnp bipolar junction transistor following an SEL.

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Cedar Park, TX, United States of America

Huy Van Pham