SiN Capacitors and ESD

Gergana I. Drandova, John M. Beall, Kenneth D. Decker

TriQuint Semiconductor, 500 W Renner Road, Richardson, TX 75080, Email: gdrandova@tqtx.com, Phone: (972) 994-5766

Keywords: Silicon nitride capacitors, ESD, transient simulations, Frenkel-Poole.

Abstract

We present Human Body Model (HBM) electrostatic discharge (ESD) test results for the three types of capacitors used in the TriQuint Texas high density interconnect process. We show a linear dependence of ESD failure voltage with respect to capacitor area (capacitance). We also show doubling of the HBM failure voltage when using two capacitors in series compared to a single capacitor of the same type with the same total capacitance. Surprisingly high HBM failure voltages were observed for large 500 Å SiN capacitors. Transient simulations were performed to relate the observed HBM failure voltages to the intrinsic dielectric breakdown voltages of the three types of capacitors. By incorporating a dielectric current leakage due to Frenkel-Poole emission from traps into the simulations, we were able to obtain an excellent agreement with the HBM test results.

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