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edfas.org ELECTRONIC DEVICE FAILURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 21 NO. 4 20 When looking at field failures of RFIDs, one must con- sider that ESD resilience depends on the package, the application environment, and last but not least, proper care and handling by users. Fortunately, even with mass implementation of RFIDs in widely diverse applications such as passports, ID cards, smart cards, and access systems, there has not been significant growth in ESD failures. Nevertheless, advanced engineering is needed with regard to the ESD and EMI protection of small elec- tronic gadgets like RFID devices because they are usually missing a direct connection to ground. As a result, protec- tion trends aremoving toward EMI shielding concepts and installing ESD paths, completely bypassing ESDS. CONCLUSION Using the example of smart card RFID devices, this article highlights ESD risk scenarios during assembly and in the field, and outlines useful countermeasures. Air ionizers are part of RFID assembly process protection, but require supplementary installations to cope with today’s manufacturing and throughput speeds. Considering field- use related ESD and EMI loads, a special challenge is their inertial electric potential due to lack of a ground link, resulting inprotection countermeasureswithout requiring a voltage-absorptive ground connect. REFERENCES 1. “Guideline 1013 of the ESD Forum e.V. Considering the Procedure of ESDRisk Evaluation of ESD-appropriateMachines and Installations,” ESD Forum e.V., Noerdlingen, Germany, [Online: 2013]. Available: https://esdforum.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=articl e&id=81:richtlinien-en&catid=90&lang=en&Itemid=100097. 2. P. Jacob, U. Thiemann, J. Weber, H. Gieser, and H. Wolf: “Charge/ Discharge Effects and ESD Prevention at the Example of RFID Smart Card Manufacturing,” ESD Forum, Munich, 2017. 3. J.C. Reiner: “Latent Gate Oxide Damage Induced by Ultra-Fast Electrostatic Discharge,” Ph.D. work at ETH Zurich, edited by Hartung-Gore, Series in Microelectronics, Vol. 51, Konstanz, 1995. ABOUT THE AUTHOR After studying technical physics in Munich, Peter Jacob began his professional work in 1981 as a failure analysis expert at the IBM semiconductor plant in Böblingen, until 1992. After a short period at Hitachi Scientific Instruments where he was responsible for electron microscopy configurations and customer training, he joined ETH Zurich/EMPA as a senior expert for failure analysis on micro and power electronics, fromdevice to system level. Parallel to this work, he joined Swatch Group‒EM Microelectronic Marin as a principal FA engineer in 1995. Jacob has authored more than 60 con- tributed and invited papers, including two ESREF Best Papers and an ISTFA outstanding poster award. He volunteers in the German ESD Forum, EDFAS, and Eufanet. In 2007, he was appointed as an honorary professor of the Technical University in Munich and in 2010 he received the International Barkhausen Award from the Technical University of Dresden. In 2016, he was appointed to head the Swiss Electronics & Reliability Center at EMPA Dübendorf. ESD CHALLENGES ON RFID DEVICES (continued from page 18) Matching job seekers to employers just got easier with ASM International’s new CareerHub. After logging on to the ASM website, job seekers can upload a resume and do searches on hiring companies for free. Advanced searching allows filtering based on various aspects of electronics, e.g., R&D, manufacturing, or materials. Employers and suppliers can easily post jobs and set up pre-screen criteria to gain access to highly qualified, professional job seekers around the globe. For more information, visit careercenter.asminternational.org . VISIT THE CAREER HUB