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Application Notes
Today’s integrated circuits (ICs) are designed with increasingly smaller geometries and higher processing speeds. These design features cause semiconductors to become increasingly vulnerable to electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage. ESD can be triggered by human touch, machine handling, testing by automated testers, or by pre-charge events such as friction produced by the handlers. ESD poses a serious threat to every IC design facility and fabrication process house. ESD-related failures are estimated to cost millions of dollars in lost revenue for IC manufacturers every year.
In battling ESD, factories are equipped with conductive flooring materials to conduct the electric charges from the work area. Operators handling ICs are required to wear special coats with conductive filaments, and/or heel-straps. At the work bench, operators are required to wear wrist straps to ensure that they are grounded. However, based on investigations by ESD experts, less than 0.10% of all the documented damage actually comes from ungrounded personnel touching ESD-sensitive products. In other words, 99.9% of ESD damage is attributed to charging/discharging events that occur in production equipment and processes. Consequently, maintaining ground integrity for equipment plays a vital role in the reduction of ESD.
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