ABSTRACT
The transfer of charge between two bodies at different electrostatic potentials results in a pulse of energy that can cause several types of electrical overstress (EOS) failure modes. Pareto ranking of the failures in electronic components shows that electrostatic discharge (ESD) and EOS are major contributors. There are three models to describe different ESD phenomena that occur in electronic components. They are the human body model, machine model, and charged-device model. There are two basic ways to manage the ESD damage, either through elimination of the ESD events or through enhancement of the device ESD immunity. With the very large circuits consisting of millions of logic gates, made possible by modern deep sub-micron technologies, both types of ESD/EOS are becoming increasingly probable. The partially damaged circuits then fail while in use, typically in the infant mortality portion of the product life cycle, due to interaction with other failure mechanisms.
