Hi, Faisal,
The latch-up is explained in many textbooks. Here are some general guidelines to prevent latch-up.
- Put guard ring between NMOS and PMOS.
- Put NMOS and PMOS far away from each other.
- Put pickup OD (that means vdd or ground) near NMOS and PMOS.
Because the large current flows through I/O buffers, the first two guidelines must be applied in I/O buffer layout. For core devices, normally only the last guidelines are required. For 0.18um, the nearest pickup OD to NMOS/PMOS should not greater than about 25um generally.
BTW, which foundry is your 0.18um process from?
I would not like to use such a process without latch-up guidelines. You'd better ask the foundry and confirm.
Yawei