ON Semiconductor Introduces Low Profile ESD Protection Arrays

“The fact that portable electronics continue to shrink yet still offer added functionality isn’t news,” said Manor Narayanan, ON Semiconductor vice president and general manager of Digital Consumer Products Division. “The news is in how semiconductor solutions like ON Semiconductor’s new protection devices are helping designers find ways to incorporate world class ESD protection along with ultra low capacitance to maintain high speed data rates, without gobbling up too much valuable board area.”

The NUP4016 protects four high speed data lines in the tiny 1.0 mm x 1.0 mm x 0.4 mm SOT-953 package - making it the lowest profile ESD device for high speed communication interfaces on the market today. This device also has ultra low capacitance of 0.5 pico farad (pF) per I/O line which make it suitable for protecting high speed interfaces such as USB 2.0 high speed (480 Mb/s) and HDMI (1.65 Gb/s). This small size coupled with the leading-edge capacitance and clamping voltage performance makes this device the premier solution for applications in space constrained products such as cell phones, portable MP3 players, PDAs and digital cameras.

The ESD11L5.0D protects two high speed data lines at 0.5 pF in the ultra small 1.0 mm x 0.6 mm x 0.37 mm SOT-1123 making it the lowest profile ESD device for high speed communication and USB 2.0 data and power line and protection available on the market today. The SOT-1123 package offers a 50 percent smaller footprint and 20 percent lower height than comparable solutions offered in a SOT-723 .Integrating ON Semiconductor’s ultra-low capacitance technology into a 3-pin package provides the designer with a solution to protect the D+ and D- lines of a USB2.0 port with a single device. The ESD11L5.0D can also be connected cathode to cathode to protect a single bi-directional line at 0.25 pF, ideal for protecting high frequency RF antenna lines.

Both the NUP4016 and ESD11L5.0D are capable of clamping an input ESD waveform of 15 kilovolt (kV) to less than 8 volts (V) in a matter of nanoseconds, ensuring the highest levels of protection for today’s ESD sensitive integrated circuits (IC). Other low capacitance off-chip ESD protection technologies, such as polymer and ceramic-based varistors, offer low capacitance, but their ESD clamping voltage is significantly higher than the ON Semiconductor solution. In addition, the ON Semiconductor silicon devices are free from wearout mechanisms that affect the reliability and performance of passive technologies after multiple surge events such as ESD.

“ON Semiconductor continues to lead the industry in delivering high performance ESD protection solutions in smaller, lower profile products that not only meet the size requirements of next generation applications, but that deliver the performance demanded by customers.,” said Gary Straker, ON Semiconductor general manager and director of Protection and Control Division. “These new devices meet the challenge of protecting sensitive components in high-speed applications from the severe damage caused by ESD.”