Electrostatic discharge protection circuit and semiconductor circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10978445-B2
Application number	US-201815964909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2018
Priority date	Jan 31, 2018
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, coupled between a first reference terminal and a second reference terminal; the ESD protection circuit includes a first voltage divider, a second voltage divider, a first trigger circuit and a second trigger circuit. The first trigger circuit includes a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to the first reference terminal, and the second terminal is coupled to the second reference terminal via the first voltage divider. The second trigger circuit includes a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to the second reference terminal, the second terminal is coupled to the first reference terminal via the second voltage divider, and the second trigger circuit and the first trigger circuit are in parallel connection.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, configured to protect a Gallium nitride (GaN) based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), wherein the GaN based HEMT comprises a gate, a drain and a source, the electrostatic discharge protection circuit comprising:
a first sub-circuit, comprising:
a first trigger circuit, comprising a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to the gate of the GaN based HEMT;
a first voltage divider, coupled between the second terminal of the first trigger circuit and the source of the GaN based HEMT; and
a first discharge component, comprising a gate, a first source/drain and a second source/drain, wherein the first source/drain is coupled to the gate of the GaN based HEMT, the gate is coupled to the second terminal of the first trigger circuit; and

a second sub-circuit, comprising:
a second discharge component, comprising a gate, a first source/drain and a second source/drain, wherein the first source/drain is coupled to the source of the GaN based HEMT, and the gate is coupled to the second terminal of the second trigger circuit;
wherein the first trigger circuit and the first voltage divider as a whole and the first discharge component and the second discharge component as a whole are parallel connected to each other.

2. The ESD protection circuit of claim 1 , wherein the second sub-circuit further comprises:
a second trigger circuit, comprising a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to the source of the GaN based HEMT; and
a second voltage divider, coupled between the second terminal of the second trigger circuit and the gate of the GaN based HEMT.

3. The ESD protection circuit of claim 2 , wherein the second source/drain of the second discharge component is coupled to the second source/drain of the first discharge component.

4. The ESD protection circuit of claim 2 , wherein the first voltage divider comprises a first resistor, and the second voltage divider comprises a second resistor.

5. The ESD protection circuit of claim 2 , wherein the first discharge component comprises a first GaN based transistor, and the second discharge component comprises a second GaN based transistor.

6. The ESD protection circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first trigger circuit has a threshold voltage, and when a voltage of the first terminal of the first trigger circuit is higher than a voltage of the second terminal of the first trigger circuit and a difference therebetween exceeds the threshold voltage of the first trigger circuit, the first trigger circuit conducts; and the first discharge component has a threshold voltage, and when a voltage of the gate of the first discharge component is higher than a voltage of the first source/drain or the second source/drain and a difference therebetween exceeds the threshold voltage of the first discharge component, the first discharge component conducts, and the threshold voltage of the first trigger circuit is greater than the threshold voltage of the first discharge component.

7. The ESD protection circuit of claim 2 , wherein the second trigger circuit has a threshold voltage, when a voltage of the first terminal of the second trigger circuit is higher than a voltage of the second terminal and a difference therebetween exceeds the threshold voltage of the second trigger circuit, the second trigger circuit conducts; and the second discharge component has a threshold voltage, and when a voltage of the gate of the second discharge component is higher than a voltage of the first source/drain or the second source/drain and a difference therebetween exceeds the threshold voltage of the second discharge component, the second discharge component conducts, and the threshold voltage of the second trigger circuit is greater than the threshold voltage of the second discharge component.

8. An ESD protection circuit, coupled between a first reference terminal and a second reference terminal, the electrostatic discharge protection circuit comprising:
a first voltage divider;
a second voltage divider;
a first trigger circuit, comprising a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to the first reference terminal, the second terminal is coupled to the second reference terminal via the first voltage divider, wherein the first trigger circuit has a threshold voltage, and when a voltage of the first terminal of the first trigger circuit is higher than a voltage of the second terminal and a difference therebetween exceeds the threshold voltage of the first trigger circuit, the first trigger circuit conducts;
a second trigger circuit, comprising a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to the second reference terminal, the second terminal is coupled to the first reference terminal via the second voltage divider, and the second trigger circuit and the first trigger circuit are in parallel connection;
a first discharge component, comprising a gate, a first source/drain and a second source/drain, wherein the gate is coupled between the first trigger circuit and the first voltage divider; and
a second discharge component, comprising a gate, a first source/drain and a second source/drain, wherein the gate is coupled between the second trigger circuit and the second voltage divider, and the first discharge component and the second are in series connection.

9. The ESD protection circuit of claim 8 , wherein the first source/drain of the first discharge component is coupled to the first reference terminal, the first source/drain of the second discharge component is coupled to the second reference terminal, and the second source/drain of the first discharge component is coupled to the second source/drain of the second discharge component.

10. The ESD protection circuit of claim 8 , wherein the first voltage divider comprises a first resistor, and the second voltage divider comprises a second resistor.

11. The ESD protection circuit of claim 8 , wherein the first discharge component comprises a first GaN based transistor, and the second discharge component comprises a second GaN based transistor.

12. The ESD protection circuit of claim 8 , wherein the first discharge component has a threshold voltage, and when a voltage of the gate of the first discharge component is higher than a voltage of the first source/drain or the second source/drain and a difference therebetween exceeds the threshold voltage of the first discharge component, the first discharge component conducts, and the threshold voltage of the first trigger circuit is greater than the threshold voltage of the first discharge component.

13. The ESD protection circuit of claim 8 , wherein the second trigger circuit has a threshold voltage, when a voltage of the first terminal of the second trigger circuit is higher than a voltage of the second terminal and a difference therebetween exceeds the threshold voltage of the second trigger circuit, the second trigger circuit conducts; and the second discharge component has a threshold voltage, and when a voltage of the gate of the second discharge component is higher than a voltage of the first source/drain or the second source/drain and a difference therebetween exceeds the threshold voltage of the second discharge component, the second discharge component conducts, and the threshold voltage of the second trigger circuit is greater than the threshold voltage of the second discharge component.

14. The ESD protection circuit of claim 8 , wherein the first trigger circuit comprises a third GaN based transistor comprising a first s

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lai Ming-Fang
• Su Liang-Yu
• Fan Hang

Classifications

• H10D62/8503

  Nitride Group III-V materials, e.g. AlN or GaN · CPC title

• H10D30/47

  having two-dimensional [2D] charge carrier gas channels, e.g. nanoribbon FETs or high electron mobility transistors [HEMT] · CPC title

• H10D89/911

  using passive elements as protective elements · CPC title

• H10D89/819 Primary

  Bias arrangements for gate electrodes of FETs, e.g. RC networks or voltage partitioning circuits (FETs in a Darlington configuration H10D89/817) · CPC title

• H10D84/811

  Combinations of field-effect devices and one or more diodes, capacitors or resistors · CPC title