Latch-Up Prevention With Autodetector Circuit to Stop Latch-Up Occurrence in CMOS-Integrated Circuits

Due to the parasitic silicon-controlled-rectifier structure, latch-up issues have been an inherent problem with bulk CMOS ICs. In this work, a novel design of an autodetector circuit to stop latch-up occurrence for latch-up prevention was proposed and successfully verified in a 0.18-μm 1.8/3.3-V CMOS technology. By adding a hole/electron detector between the input/output (I/O) pads and internal circuitry, it is used to detect the latch-up trigger current injected toward internal circuits. When an abnormal current is injected from the I/O pads to the internal circuits, this event can be detected by the proposed autodetector circuit.