ESD induced EMS problems in digital IOs

Soft failures due to ESD events must be taken into account for the correct function of an integrated circuit. In addition to the ESD characterization of unpowered integrated circuits, especially in the case of hard failures, an ESD characterization of powered ICs is necessary in order to analyze possible soft failures. The paper deals with soft failures in integrated circuits due to interferences in input and output pad cells from the VDD core and VDDIO supplies. A comparison of the influence of additional capacitances to buffer the IO/core supply is also included.