The ESD Handbook

14ESD RF Design

14.1 Fundamental Concepts of ESD Design

The ESD design discipline is distinct from circuit design practices used in the development of semiconductor circuit design [1, 2]. Fundamental concepts and objectives exist in the electrostatic discharge (ESD) design of semiconductor devices, circuits and systems in methods, layout, to design synthesis. To address the radio frequency (RF) ESD design discipline, we pose the following questions [1–3]:

• What is it that makes the ESD design discipline unique?
• How is it distinct from standard circuit design practices?
• How is RF ESD design discipline different from the RF design discipline?
• How is RF ESD design discipline different from the digital ESD design discipline?

For RF ESD design, new methods and techniques are required [3–212].

To address the first issue of the ESD design discipline, let us first address the distinction of ESD design discipline practice uniqueness. Here are some of the ESD digital design practices [2]:

• Device Response to External Events: Design of devices and circuits to respond to (and not to respond to) unique current waveforms (e.g. current magnitude and time constants) associated with external environments. ESD networks typically are designed to respond to specific ESD pulses. These networks are unique in that they address the current magnitude, frequency, polarity and location of the ESD events. Hence, in ESD design, the ESD networks are designed and tuned to respond to the various ESD events. ...