Parasitic MOS and Bipolar Transistors in CMOS ICs

Abstract

When high-performance CMOS integrated circuits are manufactured, parasitic MOS transistors and parasitic bipolar transistors are also formed. The manufacturing flow that transistor engineers construct must prevent these parasitic transistors from ever turning ON while the CMOS core transistors turn ON and OFF as fast as possible. When even one of these parasitic transistors turns ON, usually high current flows and destroys the IC.