Electrostatic discharge-a threat to electronics devices

Semiconductor devices are susceptible to direct, indirect and latent damage when subjected to electrostatic discharge (ESD). Direct damage results from physical destruction or degradation of a part of a device and can be classified as a hard failure since it is irreversible. An indirect failure results when a device changes its state due to conducted or radiated EMI sourced by the discharge. This is classified as soft failure. Latent failure occurs when a discharge so affects a device that it shows no apparent damage but with time causes a hard failure to occur. Because of the increase in use of semiconductor devices in every aspect of life, it has become very important to assess the threat ESD poses to electronic devices and take precautionary measures. This paper discusses ESD, its generation, characteristics, failure mechanisms and mitigation techniques. Different cases encountered during ESD testing are described