Even if an IC or ASIC makes it through the manufacturing process, it may struggle to succeed when it is used as intended. Engineers and designers need to consider which protective components to use to ensure survivability. Such protective components can consist of isolation circuits, filtering circuits, and suppression components, such as multilayer varistors, silicon diodes, and polymer-based suppressors.

By clamping the ESD voltage to a level that allows the sensitive circuit to survive, suppression components protect the circuit. The suppressors, which connect parallel with the signal lines, connect the ESD voltage and push or pull the majority of the ESD current away from the data line and protected chip to the suitable reference--typically, the power rail and the ground.

Different ESD Suppressors are designed for different applications. Understanding the importance and impact the ESD component adds to the system or overall circuit behavior is critical.  In high-speed digital designs, ESD suppression circuits can have dramatic and undesirable effects on signal integrity. Circuit protection considerations should be properly analyzed in the early stages of design to minimize effects on signal integrity.