Freescale Semiconductor,inc.

Vadim A Kushner

Chai Ean Gill

Rouying Zhan

Amaury Gendron

An area-efficient, high voltage, single polarity ESD protection device () is provided which includes an p-type substrate (); a first p-well (-) formed in the substrate and sized to contain n+ and p+ contact regions () that are connected to a cathode terminal; a second, separate p-well (-) formed in the substrate and sized to contain only a p+ contact region () that is connected to an anode terminal; and an electrically floating n-type isolation structure (-) formed in the substrate to surround and separate the first and second semiconductor regions. When a positive voltage exceeding a triggering voltage level is applied to the cathode and anode terminals, the ESD protection device triggers an inherent thyristor into a snap-back mode to provide a low impedance path through the structure for discharging the ESD current.

Growing community of inventors

Palos Verdes Estates, CA, United States of America

Vadim A Kushner