Design and characterization of ESD solutions with EMC robustness for automotive applications

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection design and characterization with consideration of harmful electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) events for automotive interface networks are presented. The EMC events discussed in this paper include: electrostatic discharge (ESD), electrical fast transient (EFT), surge and automotive environment transients. Key electrical parameters defined in those standards are extracted and compared. To provide efficient protection against these EMC requirements, two major automotive process technologies namely, full-dielectric isolation or silicon on insulator (SOI) and junction isolation (JI), are compared with respect to the leakage current, latch-up immunity, design complexity, EMC handling capability and cost. Protection solutions for EMC-compliance issues are reviewed at both the off-chip and on-chip levels. Trade-offs among several off- and on-chip protection devices with varying degrees of area efficiency and robustness are analyzed.