Chapter 15

Electrostatic Discharge
 Electrostatics Discharge

ESD control is a special case of the overall subject of EMC and transient
immunity.

The most common way by which static electricity is generated is by

contact and subsequent separation of materials.

The method of generating static electricity is referred to as triboelectric

charging.
The relationship between charge, voltage, and capacitance is
V= Q/C

As two materials are separated, the charge imbalance Q remains fixed;
therefore, the product VC is a constant.

When the materials are close together, the capacitance is large; hence,
the voltage is low. As the materials are separated, the capacitance decreases
and the voltage increases.

The generation of 10 to 20 kV on common materials in the home and

work environments is not unusual under low humidity (<20% conditions.
However, when the humidity is greater than 65% these voltages are limited
to 1500 V or less.

Static electricity is a surface phenomenon.

Electrostatic discharge is normally a three-step process as follows:
1. A charge is generated on an insulator.
2. This charge is transferred to a conductor by contact or induction.
3. The charged conductor comes near a metal object and
a discharge occurs.

Inductive Charging:
Energy Storage:
The capacitance between two concentric spheres is

C=4πЄ/((1/r1)-(1/r2))
where r1 and r2 are the radii of the two spheres (r2 > r1), and
Є is the dielectric constant of the medium between the spheres.
For free space, Є = 8.85 X 10^ (-12) F/m.
 If the radius of the outer sphere is allowed to go to infinity,
then above equation reduces to
C = 111r
The capacitance between two parallel plates is equal to
C = Є A/D
where A is the area of the plates and D is the distance between the
plates.

 The total capacitance of an object is then the combination of the

free-space capacitance plus the parallel plate capacitance to adjacent
objects.
 Static Discharge
 Charge accumulated on an object leaves the object by one of two ways,
leakage or arcing.

 Because it is better to avoid arcing, leakage is the preferred way to discharge

an object.

 The higher humidity, the faster the charge will leak off the object. Charge can
leak off an object through the air because of humidity.

 The charge on an object can also be counteracted by using an ionizer to fill the
air with positive and negative charged ions.
 Leakage from a charged conductor can be made to occur by intentionally
grounding the object. This ground may be a
i) hard ground (close to 0 Ω) or
ii) soft ground (a large impedance, a few hundred thousand ohms to a
few mega ohms) that will limit the current flow.

When grounding a person, a hard ground should be avoided because of the

safety hazard that would exist if the person came in contact with the ac
power line or another high voltage.

Decay Time:
Because the charge on an object may leak off over a period of time, an
important parameter is the decay time—the time it takes for the charge to be
reduced to 37% of its initial value.
τ=Є/σ
where Є is the dielectric constant for the material and σ is the
conductivity.
The decay time can also be written in terms of the surface resistivity
of the material as
τ=Єρ

Surface resistivity is equivalent to the resistance measured across a

square section of the material.
Material Surface Resistivity (Ω/Square)
Conductive 0 to 10^5
Static dissipative 10^5 to 10^9
Antistatic 10^9 to 10^14
Insulative >10^14

Materials with surface resistivity of 10^9 Ω per square or less can be

discharged rapidly by grounding.

Conductive materials are the fastest to dissipate charge and can be

dangerous when used near already charged electronic devices.
Static-dissipative materials are preferred to conductive materials
because charge dissipation occurs at a slower rate.

Antistatic materials are the slowest to dissipate charge. Nevertheless,

they are useful because they can dissipate charge faster than it is
generated and therefore prevent an object from accumulating charge.

Insulators do not dissipate charge but retain whatever charge they

have. These materials should not be allowed in an ESD-sensitive
environment.
 Neither static-dissipative nor antistatic materials will charge when
separated from themselves or any other materials. They are the
preferred materials to use in an ESD-sensitive environment.
 ESD Protection in Equipment Design
ESD protection should be part of the original system design and not
added at the end, when testing indicates a problem exists.
Effective ESD immunity design requires a three-pronged approach:
i) To prevent or minimize the entry of the transient currents.
ii) To harden sensitive circuits.
iii) To write transient hardened software capable of detecting and
correcting errors.
Energy from a static discharge can be coupled to an electronic
circuit in two ways:
1. By direct conduction
2. By field coupling, including
a. Capacitive coupling
b. Inductive coupling
A circuit or system may be protected from a static discharge by any
of the following:
1. Eliminating the static buildup on the source.
2. Insulating the product to prevent a discharge.
3. Providing an alternative path for the discharge current to bypass the
sensitive circuits.
4. Shielding the circuit against the electric fields produced by the
discharge.
5. Decreasing loop areas to protect the circuit from the magnetic fields
produced by the discharge.

ESD-induced effects in electronic systems can be divided into the

following three categories:
1. Hard errors
2. Soft errors
3. Transient upset
 Preventing ESD Entry
The three most common points of ESD entry are the enclosure,
cables, and keyboards or control panels.
1.Metallic Enclosures:
They can be used as an alternative path for the ESD current.
There are 2 cases to be taken into account:
1.enclosure being grounded
2.enclosure is left ungrounded

Because of the external ground connection, the circuit remains at, or

close to, the ground potential. Therefore, a large potential difference
exists between the enclosure and the circuit, and a ‘secondary arc’ as
shown in Fig. 15-10 may occur between the enclosure and the circuit.

The secondary arc can be prevented by

(1) providing sufficient space between all metal parts and the circuit
or
(2) by connecting the circuit to the metallic enclosure, thus
keeping it at the same potential as the enclosure.
The breakdown voltage of air is approximately proportional to pressure
and inversely proportional to absolute temperature.

The safe clearance distance to prevent an arc is usually considered to be

about one third of this or 1 mm/kV. Table 15-4 lists the safe clearance
distances for various voltages.
No potential difference exists between points on the circuit or
between the circuit and the enclosure.
High voltage potential on the enclosure is transferred as a common-
mode voltage to the interface cables and applied to whatever is at
the other end of the cables. Therefore, the problem is transferred
from the circuit in the enclosure to which the discharge is applied,
to the circuits at the other end of the cables.
 Input / Output Cable Treatment
Cables become an ESD entry point as the result of
(1) a direct discharge,
(2)acting as an antenna, or

ESD entry on cables can be stopped or at least minimized by

1. Use of cable shielding
2. Common-mode chokes
3. transient voltage suppression diodes
4. Cable bypass filters

Ferrites can also provide very effective ESD protection, in addition to or in

place of cable shielding. The spectral density of ESD is in the 100- to-500-MHz
range, and this is just where most ferrites provide their maximum impedance. A
ferrite or common-mode choke placed on an interface cable will cause most of
the transient discharge voltage to be dropped across the choke rather than
across the circuit connected to the end of the cable.
A ferrite core on the cable and a capacitive filter-pin connector directly
mounted on the enclosure makes a good L-filter for ESD protection.

These protection components should be placed so that the ground

currents that they produce do not flow through the circuit ground; that is,
they should connect to the enclosure or a separate I/O ground

These cable input protection methods will prevent component damage

but may not prevent soft errors or transient upset, because noise voltages
may still be present on the inputs.

To prevent soft errors, these noise signals must be controlled by

building additional noise immunity into the system.
 3.Insulated Enclosures:
The major advantage of insulated enclosures is that they tend to prevent
a discharge from occurring. However, unless completely insulated, there
will be seams and apertures through which a discharge can occur.

The primary disadvantages of an insulated enclosure are as follows:

 No convenient alternative path for direct discharge. The ac power

cord’s green-wire ground is useless as an ESD ground.
 No shielding for indirect discharge (field coupling).
 No convenient place to connect the following:
>Cable shields
>Connector backshells
>Transient voltage suppressors
>Input cable filters
Possible connections of cable shields, transient voltage protectors, and I/O filters when the
product is in a plastic enclosure:

1. To the circuit ground plane (poorest choice)

2. To a separate I/O ground plane as discussed in (better choice)
3. To a separate large metal plate added to the bottom of the product (best choice)

When the circuit ground is used to divert the ESD current, a large ground voltage may be
produced, and this voltage can cause damage or soft errors to occur, especially when solid
ground planes are not used.
If all cables enter the system in the same area of the PCB, then a separate I/O ground plane
can be used to bypass the ESD cable currents. In this case, however, the I/O ground will not be
connected to the enclosure, because there is no metallic enclosure exists.

The ESD current will pass through the separate I/O ground plane and through the capacitance
of the plane to actual ground, thus bypassing the circuitry. The effectiveness of this approach is
a function of how large the I/O ground plane is and how much capacitance it has to ground.

The most desirable approach, however, is to have a separate ESD ground plate in the
system to act as both a reference potential and a low-inductance
 We can use diode clamps to the power supply to divert ESD currents away
from sensitive circuits when a product is in a plastic enclosure.
The diodes divert the surge current to the power bus and away from the input
of the circuit to be protected.

Dumping the ESD current into the power bus can cause the supply voltage to
increase or decrease temporarily. This change in supply voltage may be
sufficient to upset, or in some cases even damage, the protected circuit or other
circuits connected to the same power supply.

 Improvements in the above mentioned circuit:

1. Addition of a series resistor (or ferrite)- to limit the magnitude of
the ESD current.
2. Addition of bulk capacitance (5 to 50 mF) across the power supply
rails-as we have
dV=idt/C= dQ/C
Therefore, for a fixed amount of charge dQ dumped into the power-ground
system by an ESD event, the larger the capacitance C the smaller the change in
the voltage dV will be.
Ribbon cables are especially susceptible to ESD and should have ferrite
chokes to minimize common-mode coupling.

4. Keyboards and Control Panels

Keyboards and control panels must be designed in such a way that a

discharge will not occur, or if one does the current will flow through an
alternative path and not go directly through the sensitive electronics.

In many cases, a metal spark arrestor can be placed between the keys
and the circuit, to provide an alternative path for any discharge
current. This spark arrestor should be connected to the enclosure (if
metallic) or a separate metal ESD ground plate.
 Hardening Sensitive Circuits

Because of the fast rise time of ESD, digital circuits are more prone to
upset than analog circuits.

Resets, interrupts, and any other control inputs that can change the operating
state of a device should be protected against false triggering by a fast rise time,
narrow pulse width ESD transient.

 This can be accomplished by adding a small capacitor, or resistor/capacitor

(or ferrite/capacitor) network (50 to 100 O, 100 to 1000 pF) to the IC input to
reduce its susceptibility to sharp narrow transient pulses such as those generated
by ESD.
 ESD Grounding
The real ground or reference for ESD is the chassis (or metallic
enclosure) or ESD ground plate within the product, and its free- space
capacitance.

The way to divert the ESD current away from the circuit is to
connect the input circuit transient voltage protectors, and/or filters, to
the enclosure.

If you do not have a metallic enclosure, then connect the transient
protectors or filters to a separate ESD ground within your product.

If you have neither a metal enclosure nor ESD ground, then about
all you can do is try to limit the discharge current with resistors or
ferrites, and connect the protectors or filters to the ground plane.
Diverting large amplitude ESD currents to ground, close to or internal to the
product, produces strong magnetic fields that can affect the system adversely.
Therefore, in some cases it is advantageous to add some resistance between the
ESD entry point and ground, to reduce the magnitude of this current. This is
often referred to as a soft ground.

 Non Grounded Products:

On a product with no external ground connection (e.g., a handheld calculator),
the ESD current path will be from the entry point through the part of the
product with the largest capacitance (i. e., lowest impedance) to ground.

On many small handheld products, the part with the largest capacitance to
ground is the printed circuit board.
The solution is to provide an alternative path with lower impedance
(larger capacitance) to ground for the ESD current to flow through. This is
usually accomplished by adding an ESD ground plate to the product
underneath the PCB.

This plate blocks the capacitance of the actual PCB to ground while at
the same time providing a large capacitance between the plate itself and
ground for the discharge current to flow through, which is similar to what
happens when a metallic enclosure is used.
 INDUCTIVE COUPLING:

The voltage induced into a loop by a transient current is equal to

dV=(2A/D)(di/dt)
where A is the loop area in square centimeters, D is the distance
between the discharge and the loop in centimeters, and di/dt is in
amperes per nanoseconds.

For example, consider the case where the susceptible loop area on
the PCB is 10 cm2, and the discharge occurs 5 cm (2-in) away. For
an ESD transient current of 20 A/ns, the voltage induced into the
10 cm2 loop will be 80 V. If the discharge occurred 1 m away, the
induced voltage would be 8 V.
CAPACITIVE COUPLING
The transient current injected into the product will be equal to
dI =C(dv/dt)
where C is in picofarads, and dV/dt is in kilovolts per nanosecond,
and t is in nanoseconds.

For example, if 10 pF of capacitance (not much capacitance) exists

between the product and file cabinet, a dV/dt of 2000 V/ns on the
file cabinet (resulting from a discharge to it), will inject a transient
current of 20 A into the product, surely enough to cause a
problem.
Transient Hardened Software Design:

The third approach to ESD protection of a product is to write

transient hardened software/firmware.

Two basic steps are involved in writing ESD-immune software:

1.A fault must be detected.
2.The system must recover gracefully to a known stable state.

 To achieve above steps the software must be regularly

checking for abnormal conditions. The object is to detect an
error as quickly as possible before it has a chance to
do any damage.

Software error-detecting techniques fall into 3 general categories:

1. Errors in program flow
2. Input-output errors
3. Memory errors
Detecting Errors in Program Flow:
Error detecting techniques include watchdog (sanity) timers,
software checkpoints, error traps, no-op/return codes etc. The
most effective protection against the infinite loop is a sanity or
watchdog timer.

The idea is to set the timer and have it count up to a specified number and
then reset the microprocessor. The software is written to output a sanity pulse
periodically that resets the timer before it times out. If everything is
operating normally, the timer never times out and therefore never resets the
microprocessor. If the processor gets locked up in an infinite loop, it does not
output the sanity pulse, hence, the timer times out and resets the
microprocessor and gets the system out of the infinite loop.

Software tokens are another approach. A token is added at the entry and exit
points of a software module. The entry and exits tokens are set to the same
value.
Unused portions of program memory should be filled with ‘‘no op’’ (or
similar) instructions with a jump to an error handling routine at the end.
This way, if an inadvertent jump to unused or nonexistent memory
occurs, the error-handling routine will be called.

Detecting Errors in Input/Output:

Transient pulses on the input or
output can cause incorrect
information to be communicated
in or out of the system. Output
errors can be detected by
echoing (sending back) the
output and comparing the data
with that which was sent.
Detecting Errors in Memory:
The simplest technique to check the validity of data is the use
of a single parity bit. Additional techniques involve the use of
checksums, cyclical redundancy checks (CRC), and various
error-correcting codes.

Time Windows:
In clocked digital systems, there are time windows during
which ESD susceptibility varies. This is the result of the system
performing different functions during different periods of time,
and only some of these functions may be susceptible to ESD.
Thank
You…