Control of Electrostatic Discharge Damage to Semiconductors

Numerous semiconductor failures have been experienced in the Viking Lander, Skylab, and Titan III Launch Vehicle programs. These included junction field effect transistors (J-FET), planar diodes, bipolar digital integrated circuits in discrete and hybrid packages, internally compensated operational amplifiers, and input-protected MOS LSI circuits (Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Large Scale Integrated circuits). All parts had passed high-reliability 100% screening tests and came from lots that had met rigorous sample acceptance test requirements. All of the failures were encountered during some phase of handling or test of the parts or circuit assemblies. Junction failures exhibited significant increases in reverse leakage current and degradation of reverse breakdown voltage. Failure sites were isolated to minute rediffusion of the junction at the silicon/silicon-dioxide interface.