Study of the impulsive field occurrence rate and intensity

To design electrostatic discharge (ESD) robust equipment the occurrence rate and the intensity of the pulses must be known. The present ESD test levels are based on studies done in the early 80's. These studies used less than 100 MHz bandwidth, i.e. the most important part of an ESD, the initial peak was not seen. The existing current data on ESD is insufficient to access the severity of ESD. Most of the existing current data available on ESD is of questionable value, most measurement were made using untraceable measurement techniques. Beside these problems there is no user environment database at all on transient fields of ESD. To close that gap a new impulse monitoring system was designed. This system automatically detects ESD by the associated fields. The monitoring system records E and H field values, their peak derivatives and spectral distribution with more than 1 GHz bandwidth. Furthermore, environmental information (temperature and humidity) and time are recorded. The monitoring system is described. Methods for evaluation of the data are presented.