An improved experimental setup for electrostatic discharge (ESD) measurements based on transmission line pulsing technique

Abstract

Transmission line pulsing (TLP) is a useful technique to characterize electrostatic discharge (ESD) events in semiconductor devices. The pulse waveforms generated by a typical TLP setup, however, are often distorted and oscillatory. In this paper, a new and simple experimental setup is developed to improve the shape of the TLP waveforms and thus to increase the effectiveness of the TLP technique. Experimental results obtained from the conventional and improved setups are presented and compared.