Tutorial sessions: Electrostatic discharge protection of consumer electronics: Challenges and solutions

摘要

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is one of the most prevalent threats to the reliability of electronic components. It is an event in which a finite amount of charge is transferred from one object (i.e., human body) to the other (i.e., microchip). This process can result in a very high current passing through the microchip within a very short period of time, and more than 35% of chip damages can be attributed to such an event. As such, designing robust on-chip ESD structures to protect microchips against ESD stress is a high priority in the semiconductor industry. The continuing scaling of CMOS technology makes the ESD-induced failures even more prominent, and one can predict with certainty that the availability of effective and robust ESD protection solutions will be a critical factor to the success of the deep sub-micron technology advancement. In fact, many semiconductor companies worldwide are having difficulties in meeting the increasingly stringent ESD protection requirements for various electronics applications. There has been a wide spread use of integrated circuits in consumer applications. An example is the automotive electronics which are typically operated in a voltage range of 40-60 9. This relatively high-voltage operation imposes certain challenges to the design of ESD protection solutions embedded in the modern vehicles. On the other hand, due to the huge market of civil wireless communications, low-voltage integrated circuits are also in high demands. Effective ESD protection solutions for these high-speed circuits are typically required to operate within a very narrow ESD design window and with a minimal loading effect (i.e., high transparency), hence introducing a different set of challenges. This talk gives a comprehensive coverage on challenges and solutions pertinent to ESD protection of highand low-voltage IC's utilized in various consumer electronics.