Evaluating ESD-protection components: Clamping voltage and dynamic resistance are crucial

摘要

Lighter, smaller consumer devices, such as laptops, cell phones, and iPods, use ASICs with geometries as small as 90 nm. At those geometries, even small levels of ESD (electrostatic-discharge)-induced voltage and current can cause catastrophic failure. Other potential sources of ESD strikes are end users who touch I/O connector pins while hot-plugging peripherals using USB (Universal Serial Bus) and HDMI (high-definition-multimedia-interface) connectors. The ESD you generate by walking across a carpet-potentially, a 1-nsec, 30A pulse-is enough to destroy an ASIC. Chip makers are also reducing the standard level of on-chip ESD protection. For these reasons, ESD-protection devices are critical to a design's success. How do you go about selecting the best ESD-protection device?