Transmission-Line Pulse (TLP) is a way to study
integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
technologies and circuit behavior in the current and time domain of
electrostatic-discharge (ESD) events. The concept was described shortly after
WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in pp. 175–189 o
Pulse Generators Vol. 5 of the
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
Radiation Lab Series. Also, D. Bradley, J. Higgins, M. Key, and S. Majumdar realized a TLP-based laser-triggered spark gap for kilovolt pulses of accurately variable timing in 1969. For investigation of ESD and
electrical-overstress (EOS) effects a measurement system using a TLP generator has been introduced first b
T. Maloney and N. Khurana in 1985 Since then, the technique has become indispensable for integrated circuit ESD protection development.
The TLP technique is based on charging a long, floating cable to a pre-determined voltage, and discharging it into a
Device-Under-Test (DUT). The cable discharge emulates an electro-static discharge event, but employing
time-domain reflectometry
Time domain refers to the analysis of mathematical functions, physical signals or time series of economic or environmental data, with respect to time. In the time domain, the signal or function's value is known for all real numbers, for the cas ...
(TDR), the change in DUT impedance can be monitored as a function of time.
The first commercial TLP system was developed by Barth Electronics in 1990s. Since then, other commercial systems have been developed (e.g., b
Thermo Fisher Scientific Grundtech
ESDEMC Technology High Power Pulse Instruments, Hanwa, TLPsol).
A subset of TLP, VF-TLP (Very-Fast Transmission-Line Pulsing), has lately gained popularity with its improved resolution and bandwidth for analysis of ephemeral ESD events such as CDM (Charged Device Model) events. Pioneered by academia (University of Illinois) and commercialized by Barth Electronics, VF-TLP has become an important ESD analysis tool for analyzing modern high-speed semiconductor circuits.
TLP Standards
ANSI/ESD STM5.5.1-2016 Electrostatic Discharge Sensitivity Testing – Transmission Line Pulse (TLP) – Component Level
ANSI/ESD SP5.5.2-2007 Electrostatic Discharge Sensitivity Testing - Very Fast Transmission Line Pulse (VF-TLP) - Component Level
IEC 62615:2010 Electrostatic discharge sensitivity testing - Transmission line pulse (TLP) - Component level
See also
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Human-body model
The human-body model (HBM) is the most commonly used model for characterizing the susceptibility of an electronic device to damage from electrostatic discharge (ESD). The model is a simulation of the discharge which might occur when a human touch ...
G. N. Glasoe and J. V. Lebacqz. ''Pulse Generators'', volume 5 of MIT Radiation Laboratory Series. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1948, pp. 175-189.* D. Bradley, J. Higgins, M. Key, and S. Majumdar, "A simple laser-triggered spark gap for kilovolt pulses of accurately variable timing," Opto-Electronics Letters, vol. 1, pp. 62–64, 1969.
External links
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Introduction of Transmission Line Pulse (TLP) Testing for ESD Analysis -Device LevelCable Discharge Event (CDE) Automated Evaluation System Based on TLP MethodCharacterizing Touch Panel Sensor ESD Failure with IV-Curve TLPTVS Failure Level Tests Comparison Between ESD Gun, TLP & HMMAdvanced Frequency Compensation Method for VF-TLP Measurement (up to 10 GHz)ESD Failure Analysis of PV Module Diodes and TLP Test Methods*
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*{{cite web, url=https://www.sites.google.com/site/esdpubs/documents/tlp85.pdf, title=Transmission Lines Pulsing Techniques, website=Sites.google.com, accessdate=26 June 2019
Integrated circuits
Electrical breakdown