Silicon On Insulator (SOI)

Why IC designers need custom ESD cells

SOI technology introduces several challenges for the ESD designer. Circuits on advanced SOI CMOS processes are very sensitive to ESD stress. The thin oxide transistors can fail at transient voltage of 5V or less.
The shallow junctions in thin film SOI processes strongly reduce the intrinsic failure current of basic ESD devices. The conventional ESD approaches are much less effective

Sofics IP for SOI technology

Process technology covered

Foundries covered

GlobalFoundries 130nm
GlobalFoundries 22nm
IDM fabs 130nm
IDM fab 90nm
IDM fab 65nm

GlobalFoundries
IDM fabs

Key focus areas

High-speed interfaces

Beyond standard voltage levels

Sofics IP is used in high bandwidth communication interfaces networks. These interfaces need ESD clamps with low parasitic capacitance. Sofics clamps provide standard ESD robustness and do not require a resistance in the signal path.

Our IP was used for sensor interfaces, battery connections and more. We have delivered solutions for high voltage tolerance (5V or higher) thanks to a flexible but deterministic solution set.

ESD with low capacitance

High voltage tolerant ESD

Battery powered applications

Harsh environments

Customers have integrated Sofics ESD in IoT systems. The leakage of our ESD cells is 100x lower compared to conventional approach. Huge improvements can be made in stand-by, sleep, operational modes and during power-cycles. Sofics has solutions available for interfaces and rail clamps.

Some applications require higher ESD robustness levels. Sofics ESD technology can be easily scaled to reach higher HBM and CDM protection levels.

Low leakage ESD

Clamps with high ESD robustness

IC products from our customers

Our customers have designed different types of products on SOI technology. Examples include wireless LNAs, PAs, high-performance compute, wireless IoT, bluetooth, wifi circuits, low-power Internet of Things devices.