| It is a well accepted fact that damage from ESD events is a very costly problem for the electronics industry as a whole - and especially for the handheld electronics sector. A growing convergence of events is driving the industry to look at more effective ways to safeguard electronics against ESD damage: |
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Condensed product development cycles to support faster time-to-market requirements |
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The growing pervasiveness and interconnectivity of consumer electronics |
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Increased portability |
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Smaller, delicate and more vulnerable semiconductor structures |
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The increasing costs associated with ESD related failure |
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From the manufacturer’s perspective, reducing time-to-market and condensing the product development cycle is of paramount importance as market share and development costs contribute significantly to the bottom line. However, incorporating ESD protection onto a PCB can entail a highly iterative design process. Connecting discrete ESD protection circuits to every net is nearly impossible to implement in PCBs or multi-pin packages. Designers engage in trial-and-error tests and design respins to determine which subset of all nets need protection to meet regulatory standards or contractual ESD specifications. This can impact product introduction timetables and reduce the potentially lucrative marketing window.
Ironically, passing today’s ESD standards does not guarantee that the product will survive during actual usage since it is not unusual for electronic devices (especially portable electronics) to encounter ESD voltages higher and more powerful than those used during ESD compliance testing. |
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Of growing concern is also the latent damage and overt failures that are unknowingly inflicted on electronic devices by consumers as they handle their cell phones, MP3 players, cameras and flash drives – as well as when they connect or disconnect peripheral devices to their home computers, TVs, DVD players, gaming consoles or set-top boxes. The average consumer remains oblivious to the fact that his or her body is one of the most effective generators and transmitters of static electricity and that he/she could be inadvertently damaging their electronic products. The rise in both availability and interconnectivity of portable electronics compounds the ESD problem and contributes to field failures. |
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Advancements in semiconductor manufacturing and assembly also accentuate the chips’ susceptibility to ESD events. New materials and manufacturing processes continue to reduce board and substrate dimensions while on-chip features continue to become smaller and more delicate, increasing the susceptibility of circuits to permanent damage. |
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| The impact of field failures to both the bottom line as well as overall brand value cannot be overstated. In addition, the costs incurred from replacement products, failure analysis, and RMA processes can be significant. |
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| Embedding blanket protection against ESD events with our XStatic™ polymer nano-composite materials offers an effective solution to neutralizing these issues and preserving product integrity throughout the intended service life of the device. |
