How to prevent circuit zapping: Modern chips are extrasensitive to electrical overstress, but the underlying physics is well understood, giving designers a growing arsenal of protective techniques

As a television viewer reaches out to adjust the rabbit ears antenna, a spark jumps from a fingertip to one of the metal wands. The vivid image on the screen turns to snow and the actors' voices become the random rush of thermal noise — the first transistor in the radio-frequency amplifier has been zapped.