Novel Multifunctional Transient Voltage Suppressor Technology for Modular EOS/ESD Protection Circuit Designs

Abstract

Transient voltage suppressor (TVS) is a kind of widely-used protection device which can enhance system surge and electrostatic discharge (ESD) robustness in small PCB area. However, different TVS cannot be fabricated using same technology due to the huge characteristic difference, which brings technology complexity in multifunctional system. In order to unity the TVS designs, a novel multifunctional TVS technology which solves non-uniformity finger triggering, voltage stacking and low leakage modular assembly issues is proposed. By using this TVS technology, the low-capacitance TVS array gets the peak current $(I_{\text{PP}})$ of 5 A under the line-line capacitance $(C_{\mathrm{L}-\mathrm{L}})$ of 0.25 pF, 5 V power clamp gets the $I_{\text{PP}}$ of 10 A with the dynamic resistance $(R_{\text{dyn}})$ of 0.15 Ohm, high-voltage protection diode gets the breakdown voltage (BV) of 70 V by stacking eight units and the surge TVS realizes $I_{\text{PP}}$ of 320 A by increasing finger amount without non-uniformity triggering.