An integrated circuit (IC) connected to external ports is susceptible to damaging electrostatic discharge (ESD) pulses from the operating environment and peripherals. The same ever-shrinking IC process technology that enables such high-port interconnect data rates can also suffer from higher ESD susceptibility because of its smaller fabrication geometry. Additional external protection devices can violate stringent signaling requirements, leaving design engineers with the need to balance performance and reliability.
展开▼
