ESD Protection Device and Circuit Design

The challenges associated with the design and implementation of Electro- static Discharge (ESD) protection circuits become increasingly complex as technology is scaled well into nano-metric regime. One must understand the behavior of semiconductor devices under very high current densities, high temperature transients in order to surmount the nano-meter ESD challenge. As a consequence, the quest for suitable ESD solution in a given technology must start from the device level. Traditional approaches of ESD design may not be adequate as the ESD damages occur at successively lower voltages in nano-metric dimensions.