An improved transmission line pulsing (TLP) setup for electrostatic discharge (ESD) testing in semiconductor devices and ICs

Transmission line pulsing (TLP) is a useful technique to characterize electrostatic discharge (ESD) events in semiconductor devices. The pulse waveforms generated by a typical TLP set-up, however, are often distorted and oscillatory. In this paper, a new and simple experimental set-up is developed to improve the shape of the TLP waveforms and thus to increase the effectiveness of the TLP technique. Experimental results obtained from the conventional and improved set-ups are presented and compared.