A Radiation-Hardened Dual-Direction SCR Based on LDMOS for ESD Protection in the Extreme Radiation Environment

To mitigate the total ionizing dose (TID) effects of the dual-direction silicon-controlled rectifier, based on laterally diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor (LDMOS-DDSCR), a common-centroid layout arrangement with multiple octagonal units is proposed and fabricated in an 18-V Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS process. The symmetrical characteristics of the bidirectional electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection are verified by transmission line pulse tests. Gamma-ray irradiation experiments demonstrate that the proposed device is tolerant of TID effects up to 100 krad(Si), whereas the traditional finger-type LDMOS-DDSCR loses its function at 50 krad(Si). Finally, the ESD performance is also characterized at high temperatures which confirms that the proposed device is an excellent candidate for space applications.