ESD protection - Session 12

Electrostatic discharge is a serious reliability problem for integrated circuits. As deep sub-micron technologies advance, the challenges of designing and implementing robust ESD protections have become more acute. Wire and diffusion resistance have increased with scaling. ESD sensitivity due to ultra-thin gate oxides has also increased, while the voltage needed to bias diodes into conduction has remained the same as previous technology generations. All of these issues bring to bear the need for design, simulation and analysis of ESD protections in deep sub-micron technologies.