Electrostatic discharge protection element and electrostatic discharge protection chip and method of producing the same
First Claim
1. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection element comprising:
- a collector area having a first conductivity type;
a first barrier area bordering on the collector area, the first barrier area having a second conductivity type;
a semiconductor area bordering on the first barrier area, the semiconductor area being an intrinsic semiconductor area, or a semiconductor area having the first or second conductivity type and a dopant concentration that is lower than a dopant concentration of the first barrier area;
a second barrier area bordering on the semiconductor area, the second barrier area having the second conductivity type and a higher dopant concentration than the semiconductor area; and
an emitter area bordering on the second barrier area, the emitter area having the first conductivity type;
wherein the dopant concentrations of the first barrier area and of the second barrier area are such that the first barrier area and the second barrier area are more than 95% depleted of charge carriers of the second conductivity type when no voltage is applied to the electrostatic discharge protection element.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection element includes a collector area, a first barrier area, a semiconductor area, a second barrier area and an emitter area. The collector area has a first conductivity type. The first barrier area borders on the collector area and has a second conductivity type. The semiconductor area borders on the first barrier area and is an intrinsic semiconductor area, or has the first or second conductivity type and a dopant concentration which is lower than a dopant concentration of the first barrier area. The second barrier area borders on the semiconductor area and has the second conductivity type and a higher dopant concentration than the semiconductor area. The emitter area borders on the second barrier area and has the first conductivity type.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection element comprising:
-
a collector area having a first conductivity type; a first barrier area bordering on the collector area, the first barrier area having a second conductivity type; a semiconductor area bordering on the first barrier area, the semiconductor area being an intrinsic semiconductor area, or a semiconductor area having the first or second conductivity type and a dopant concentration that is lower than a dopant concentration of the first barrier area; a second barrier area bordering on the semiconductor area, the second barrier area having the second conductivity type and a higher dopant concentration than the semiconductor area; and an emitter area bordering on the second barrier area, the emitter area having the first conductivity type; wherein the dopant concentrations of the first barrier area and of the second barrier area are such that the first barrier area and the second barrier area are more than 95% depleted of charge carriers of the second conductivity type when no voltage is applied to the electrostatic discharge protection element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A passive chip comprising:
-
a ground contact to connect the chip with an external ground voltage; a data line contact to connect the chip with an external data line; and an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection element, the electrostatic discharge protection element comprising a collector area having a first conductivity type; a first barrier area bordering on the collector area, the first barrier area having a second conductivity type; a semiconductor area bordering on the first barrier area, the semiconductor area being an intrinsic semiconductor area, or having the first or second conductivity type and a dopant concentration that is lower than a dopant concentration of the first barrier area; a second barrier area bordering on the semiconductor area, the second barrier area having the second conductivity type and a higher dopant concentration than the semiconductor area; and an emitter area bordering on the second barrier area, the emitter area having the first conductivity type, wherein the dopant concentration of the first barrier area and of the second barrier area are such that the first barrier area and the second barrier area are more than 95% depleted or fully depleted of charge carriers of the second conductivity type, when no voltage is applied to the electrostatic discharge protection element; and wherein the ground contact is connected to the emitter area and the data line contact is connected to the collector area. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. An electrostatic discharge protection element comprising a diode structure, the diode structure comprising:
-
a cathode area having a first conductivity type; a first barrier area bordering on the cathode area, the first barrier area having a second conductivity type, that differs from the first conductivity type; a semiconductor area bordering on the first barrier area, the semiconductor area being an intrinsic semiconductor area, or having the first or second conductivity type and a dopant concentration that is lower than a dopant concentration of the first barrier area; a second barrier area bordering on the semiconductor area, the second barrier area having the first conductivity type and a higher dopant concentration than the semiconductor area; and an anode area bordering on the second barrier area, the anode area having the second conductivity type, wherein the dopant concentration of the first barrier area and the dopant concentration of the second barrier area are such that the first barrier area and the second barrier are more than 95% or fully depleted when no bias voltage is applied to the diode structure. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
-
-
18. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device comprising:
-
a circuit adapted to provide a fixed voltage of a first polarity at an output thereof when a voltage of a second polarity is applied to an input thereof; a collector area having a first conductivity type; a first barrier area bordering on the collector area, the first barrier area having a second conductivity type; a semiconductor area bordering on the first barrier area, the semiconductor area being an intrinsic semiconductor area, or a semiconductor area having the first or second conductivity type and a dopant concentration that is lower than a dopant concentration of the first barrier area; a second barrier area bordering on the semiconductor area, the second barrier area having the second conductivity type and a higher dopant concentration than the semiconductor area; an emitter area bordering on the second barrier area, the emitter area having the first conductivity type; a third barrier area bordering on the semiconductor area, the third barrier area having the first conductivity type and a higher dopant concentration than the semiconductor area; and a base area bordering on the third barrier area, the base area having the second conductivity type, wherein the dopant concentrations of the first barrier area, the second barrier area and the third barrier area are such that the first barrier area, the second barrier area and the third barrier area are less than 60% depleted when no voltage is applied to the electrostatic protection device, and are more than 95% depleted of their respective majority charge carriers when the fixed voltage of the first polarity is applied to the base area. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method of producing an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection element comprising:
-
forming in a semiconductor substrate a collector area having a first conductivity type; forming in the semiconductor substrate a first barrier area bordering on the collector area, the first barrier area having a second conductivity type; forming in the semiconductor substrate a semiconductor area bordering on the first barrier area, the semiconductor area being an intrinsic semiconductor area, or a semiconductor area having the first or second conductivity type and a dopant concentration that is lower than a dopant concentration of the first barrier area; forming in the semiconductor substrate a second barrier area bordering on the semiconductor area, the second barrier area having the second conductivity type and a higher dopant concentration than the semiconductor area; and forming in the semiconductor substrate an emitter area bordering on the second barrier area, the emitter area having the first conductivity type, wherein the dopant concentration of the first barrier area and of the second barrier area are such that the first barrier area and the second barrier area are more than 95% or fully depleted of charge carriers of the second conductivity type, when no voltage is applied to the electrostatic discharge protection element. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
Specification