On-chip Transient Detection Circuit for Microelectronic Systems against Electrical Transient Disturbances due to ESD Events

Abstract

A new on-chip transient detection circuit which can detect electrical disturbances of system-level electrostatic discharge (ESD) is proposed. The circuit is designed with reduced physical area by utilizing dual-latched structure. With hardware/firmware co-design method, auto-recovery procedure can be activated by the detection circuit when microelectronic systems suffer system-level ESD events. The immunity level of microelectronic products against the electromagnetic interference (EMI) of ESD events can be effectively improved. The proposed on-chip transient detection circuit has been verified in a 0.18-mu m CMOS process with 1.8-V devices under system-level ESD tests.