Electrical Overstress of Integrated Circuits

• Misconceptions on ICs and EOS.
• Non-linearity of ICs.
• EOS root causes.
• EOS methodology.

Common misconceptions regarding electrical overstress (EOS) and the failure characteristics of integrated circuits (ICs) are summarized, analyzed and clarified. In order to avoid EOS fails right from the beginning of the IC design process, a methodology is proposed that accounts for the special characteristics of ICs and their applications in order to deal with EOS in the design, handling and application of ICs.