Currently I am using a Max202 chip in a design, and we have had occasional failures of the chip. We are currently working with the concept that they may be ESD failures, but I also was reviewing the design and noted that the unused TTL side TX and RX are tied together - would this be best practice or possibly cause any issues? Also, what do you think the likelihood of ESD causing this chip to fail is, specifically we are worried since the TX and RX go to PIC processor, but also are routed to a header for direct TTL level COM.
