EOS/ESD Association, Inc.

To many people, Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is only experienced as a shock when touching a metal doorknob after walking across a carpeted floor or after sliding across a car seat. However, static electricity and ESD has been a serious industrial problem for centuries. As early as the 1400s, European and Caribbean military forts were using static control procedures and devices trying to prevent inadvertent electrostatic discharge ignition of gunpowder stores.

This document provides estimates of future ESD device thresholds and their potential impact on ESD control practices. The threshold estimates reflect the prevailing trends in semiconductor technology as viewed by selected industry leaders. These projections are intended to provide a view of future device protection limitations driven by performance requirements and technology scaling. It also provides a common view of expected performance for device suppliers and users. Finally, these trends point to the need for continued improvements in ESD control procedures and compliance.

An Industry Council on ESD Target Levels was established in 2006 when a few IC companies decided to understand why during the product qualification process at every corporation, passing the ESD test is a frequent bottleneck for customer acceptance.

Your static control program is up and running. How do you determine whether it is effective? How do you make sure your employees follow it? In Part 3, we suggested that there were at least nine critical elements to successfully developing and implementing an effective ESD control program. In Part 4, we will focus on two more of these elements: training and auditing.

In September 2006, a small group of ESD control and design stakeholders assembled in a small conference room at the LaPaloma Resort in Tucson, AZ to discuss how the ESD Association (ESDA) and the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association (JEDEC) might harmonize some of their key device (component level) standards documents. Some of the stakeholders involved in those initial discussions (and similar meetings over the next six months) were integrated circuit manufacturers, integrated circuit test manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, integrated circuit test service providers, and representatives from the ESDA and JEDEC. This first meeting was somewhat extraordinary as these industry stakeholders were able to bring JEDEC and the ESDA to the same table to start working on the harmonization efforts after other previous attempts failed. The key individual sponsoring this meeting was Kay Adams, the ESDA President in 2006-2007.