esd

Industry standards play a major role in providing meaningful metrics and common procedures that allow various manufacturers, customers and suppliers to communicate from facility to facility around the world. Standards are increasingly important in our global economy. In manufacturing, uniform quality requirements and testing procedures are necessary to make sure that all involved parties are speaking the same language.

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.

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.

In Part 2 of this series we indicated that a key element in a successful static control program was the identification of those items (components, assemblies and finished products) that are sensitive to ESD and the level of their sensitivity. Damage to an ESDS device by the ESD event is determined by the device’s ability to dissipate the energy of the discharge or withstand the current levels involved. This is known as device “ESD sensitivity” or “ESD susceptibility.”