A study on response characteristics modeling method for ESD protection device by vector network analyzer

The operating characteristics and protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD) offered by a protection device when implemented in a real circuit may differ from those suggested via a circuit simulation, particularly at the system level. We assumed that this can be partly attributed to the failure of the snapback characteristics to account for the frequency responses of the pass and reflection characteristics of the device. In this study, we attempted to measure the two-port S-parameters of an ESD protection device using a vector network analyzer, bias tee, direct current power supply, and electronic load. We also proposed a circuit configuration for a radio frequency simulator that is able to model the frequency response of an ESD protection device for system-level ESD stress simulation. To evaluate the proposed method, we compared the simulated ESD stress voltage waveform with that actually measured when ESD was applied to a transient voltage suppressor diode.