ESD-Event Level Detection for Real-Time Monitoring of ESD Events in Manufacturing Environments

A new ESD-event level detector has been designed and fabricated in a 0.18-mu m CMOS process. The experimental results showed that it can detect ESD events generated from different kinds of ESD sources, including CDM ESD tester and IEC ESD generator. The core size of the silicon chip is only 550 x 305 mu m(2) realized in a 0.18-mu m CMOS process. In addition, it can be further used to form an ESD-event level detection system for monitoring the real-time ESD events in the manufacturing environments.