Interaction of RF DPI with ESD Protection Devices in EMS Testing of IC Chips

Semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) chips are tested with intentional radio frequency (RF) disturbance under the direct power injection (DPI) method of IEC62132-4 for immunity. The paper exhibits on-chip waveforms measured at some points on the Si substrate nearby electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection devices at the IC pin of interest, which are the very first devices responding to RF power during DPI. The chip ESD compact model (CECM) captures the whole response in simulation, including snapback current-voltage transfer characteristics of the protection devices, Si substrate coupling around the devices and chip-package-printed circuit board (PCB) interaction. The measurements and simulation are correlated for a wide range of 30 dB RF power, with Silicon test chips in a 0.13 μm Bipolar/CMOS/DMOS (BiCD) technology. The CECM technique can be extended toward full-chip and system-wide electromagnetic susceptibility (EMS) simulation of electronic systems.