ESD Control

How is the proper ESD Protection Cell chosen for a particular design application?

This article reviews some of the ESD protection design challenges when designing in a FinFET technology and give an outlook on the successors of FinFET.

ESD protection from epoxy-based floor coatings often falls short of applicable static control standards. A better understanding of the strengths and shortcomings of different epoxy materials is essential to minimize risks.

Let’s look at how a static control flooring system is intended to function. The flooring systems’ purpose is to provide an electrical path, typically to ground, for personnel when used in conjunction with static control footwear, for removal (equalization) of electrostatic charge.

This article highlights key concepts to designing electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuits for radio frequency (RF) and millimeter wave applications. Needed RF concepts are discussed and some popular protection schemes are illustrated.

A more thorough “in-between calibration cycle” check of the ESD simulator’s output waveform is something every EMC engineer and technician should consider.

TCAD simulation can identify ESD relevant effects and the internal operation of a device under ESD stress conditions that are not generally accessible through conventional measurement techniques. TCAD simulation can help to reduce IC and device design cycle times, resulting in the more timely introduction of innovative products to market.

Controlled environment testing of static control flooring in combination with multiple forms of ESD footwear during the qualification phase can reveal problems and is a mandatory step to avoid installing non-compliant flooring/footwear systems.

This brief article is intended for those who may be new to the field of compliance engineering and want a better understanding of process to design products that are immune to electrostatic discharge (ESD) events. 

Each component in an ESD protected area (EPA) plays a vital part in the fight against electrostatic discharge (ESD). If just one component is not performing correctly, you could harm your ESD sensitive devices potentially costing your company a lot of money.