IEC 62615:2010

IEC 62615 ®
Edition 1.0 2010-05
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Electrostatic discharge sensitivity testing – Transmission line pulse (TLP) –
Component level
Essai de sensibilité aux décharges électrostatiques – Impulsion de ligne de
transmission (TLP) – Niveau composant

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either IEC or
IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester.
If you have any questions about IEC copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication,
please contact the address below or your local IEC member National Committee for further information.

Droits de reproduction réservés. Sauf indication contraire, aucune partie de cette publication ne peut être reproduite
ni utilisée sous quelque forme que ce soit et par aucun procédé, électronique ou mécanique, y compris la photocopie
et les microfilms, sans l'accord écrit de la CEI ou du Comité national de la CEI du pays du demandeur.
Si vous avez des questions sur le copyright de la CEI ou si vous désirez obtenir des droits supplémentaires sur cette
publication, utilisez les coordonnées ci-après ou contactez le Comité national de la CEI de votre pays de résidence.

IEC Central Office
3, rue de Varembé
CH-1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland
Email: inmail@iec.ch
Web: www.iec.ch
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.

About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigenda or an amendment might have been published.
ƒ Catalogue of IEC publications: www.iec.ch/searchpub
The IEC on-line Catalogue enables you to search by a variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical committee,…).
It also gives information on projects, withdrawn and replaced publications.
ƒ IEC Just Published: www.iec.ch/online_news/justpub
Stay up to date on all new IEC publications. Just Published details twice a month all new publications released. Available
on-line and also by email.
ƒ Electropedia: www.electropedia.org
The world's leading online dictionary of electronic and electrical terms containing more than 20 000 terms and definitions
in English and French, with equivalent terms in additional languages. Also known as the International Electrotechnical
Vocabulary online.
ƒ Customer Service Centre: www.iec.ch/webstore/custserv
If you wish to give us your feedback on this publication or need further assistance, please visit the Customer Service
Centre FAQ or contact us:
Email: csc@iec.ch
Tel.: +41 22 919 02 11
Fax: +41 22 919 03 00
A propos de la CEI
La Commission Electrotechnique Internationale (CEI) est la première organisation mondiale qui élabore et publie des
normes internationales pour tout ce qui a trait à l'électricité, à l'électronique et aux technologies apparentées.

A propos des publications CEI
Le contenu technique des publications de la CEI est constamment revu. Veuillez vous assurer que vous possédez
l’édition la plus récente, un corrigendum ou amendement peut avoir été publié.
ƒ Catalogue des publications de la CEI: www.iec.ch/searchpub/cur_fut-f.htm
Le Catalogue en-ligne de la CEI vous permet d’effectuer des recherches en utilisant différents critères (numéro de référence,
texte, comité d’études,…). Il donne aussi des informations sur les projets et les publications retirées ou remplacées.
ƒ Just Published CEI: www.iec.ch/online_news/justpub
Restez informé sur les nouvelles publications de la CEI. Just Published détaille deux fois par mois les nouvelles
publications parues. Disponible en-ligne et aussi par email.
ƒ Electropedia: www.electropedia.org
Le premier dictionnaire en ligne au monde de termes électroniques et électriques. Il contient plus de 20 000 termes et
définitions en anglais et en français, ainsi que les termes équivalents dans les langues additionnelles. Egalement appelé
Vocabulaire Electrotechnique International en ligne.
ƒ Service Clients: www.iec.ch/webstore/custserv/custserv_entry-f.htm
Si vous désirez nous donner des commentaires sur cette publication ou si vous avez des questions, visitez le FAQ du
Service clients ou contactez-nous:
Email: csc@iec.ch
Tél.: +41 22 919 02 11
Fax: +41 22 919 03 00
IEC 62615 ®
Edition 1.0 2010-05
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Electrostatic discharge sensitivity testing – Transmission line pulse (TLP) –
Component level
Essai de sensibilité aux décharges électrostatiques – Impulsion de ligne de
transmission (TLP) – Niveau composant

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
R
CODE PRIX
ICS 17.220.99; 31.080 ISBN 978-2-88910-976-0
– 2 – 62615 © IEC:2010
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE SENSITIVITY TESTING –
TRANSMISSION LINE PULSE (TLP) –
COMPONENT LEVEL
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 62615 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 47:
Semiconductor devices.
This first edition is based on an ANSI/ESDA document ANSI/ESD STM5.5.1-2008.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
47/2046/FDIS 47/2056/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

62615 © IEC:2010 – 3 –
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the stability date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data
related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
– 4 – 62615 © IEC:2010
INTRODUCTION
Interest in TLP testing is growing rapidly in the testing of electronic components in the
semiconductor industry. TLP testing techniques are being used for semiconductor process
development, device and circuit design. This technique or practice is being utilized on
products in both wafer level and packaged environments. TLP testing is used as an
electrostatic discharge (ESD) characterization tool to obtain voltage-current pulse
characterization parameters, failure levels, and ESD metrics. The TLP technique is being
used today as a standard measurement for ESD devices. The TLP system to the ESD
engineer is becoming a tool as critical as the ‘parameter analyzer’ is to the semiconductor
engineer.
The majority of TLP systems are designed by engineers in a laboratory environment. A
number of commercial TLP systems have been marketed in the industry. Hence it is clear a
TLP specification was needed for the TLP vendors, semiconductor industry and product
customers to be able to make valid data comparisons. With the usage of TLP data for ESD
characterization, technology benchmarking, and product quality evaluation, there is a growing
need to have standard methodologies, failure criteria, and means of reporting to allow
dialogue between semiconductor suppliers, vendors, and product customers.
This document defines the standard test method used today in the semiconductor industry for
TLP testing method and techniques in both industrial and academic institutions (this
document is intended to be used by electrical technicians, electrical engineers, semiconductor
process and device engineers, ESD reliability and quality engineers, and circuit designers).
The context of this document is the application of TLP techniques for the electrical
characterization of semiconductor components. These semiconductor components can be
single devices, a plurality of devices, integrated circuits, or semiconductor chips. This
methodology is relevant to both active and passive elements. This test method is applicable to
diodes, MOSFET devices, bipolar transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, contacts, vias,
wire interconnects, and related components.

62615 © IEC:2010 – 5 –
ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE SENSITIVITY TESTING –
TRANSMISSION LINE PULSE (TLP) –
COMPONENT LEVEL
1 Scope and object
This International Standard defines a method for pulse testing to evaluate the voltage current
response of the component under test and to consider protection design parameters for
electro-static discharge (ESD) human body model (HBM). This technique is known as
transmission line pulse (TLP) testing.
This document establishes a methodology for both testing and reporting information
associated with transmission line pulse (TLP) testing. The scope and focus of this document
pertains to TLP testing techniques of semiconductor components.
This document should not become alternative method of HBM test standard such as
IEC 60749-26. The purpose of the document is to establish guidelines of TLP methods that
allow the extraction of HBM ESD parameters on semiconductor devices. This document
provides the standard measurement and procedure for the correct extraction of HBM ESD
parameters by using TLP.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition
of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
IEC 60749-26: Semiconductor devices – Mechanical and climatic test methods – Part 26:
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) sensitivity testing – Human body model (HBM)
IEC 60749-27, Semiconductor devices – Mechanical and climatic test methods – Part 27:
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) sensitivity testing – Machine model (MM)
IEC 60749-28, Semiconductor devices – Mechanical and climatic test methods – Part 28:
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) sensitivity testing – Direct contact charged device model (DC-
CDM)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1
current source method
TLP methodology (sometimes referred to as constant current method) that utilizes a 500 Ω
resistor in series with the DUT and measures the voltage and current at the DUT
3.2
destructive damage
damage where the operating electrical characteristics or parameters are altered and do not
recover to the initial conditions prior to stress
___________
Under consideration.
– 6 – 62615 © IEC:2010
3.3
safe operation area
(SOA)
current and voltage regime where a device is in normal operation without degradation
3.4
second breakdown
condition where a negative resistance state occurs in a device due to thermal processes
NOTE This is designated as the voltage trigger point V and current I . and is typically obs
...