Abstract: An improved design method, the Gate-Couple technique, for the ESD protection circuit is presented for overcoming the asymmetrical turn-on of large dimension ESD protect devices. The gate-drain diffuse capacitance is used as the couple device. The capacitance couple effect can turn on the large dimension device uniformly when the ESD event occurs, and improve the performance of the ESD protection circuit. The testing of sample chips shows that the anticipated effect is achieved.

Key words: electrostatic discharge, capacitance couple, protection circuit