A Complete Guide on ESD Best Practices (Electrostatic Discharge)

2/27/23, 11:57 AM A Complete Guide on ESD Best Practices (Electrostatic Discharge)

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Table of Content

ESD Best Practices

• What is ESD?

• What harm does an ESD Surge do?

• How to mitigate the e ects of an ESD Surge?

• Typical Parasitics in the Path of ESD Source, IC and TVS

• How should these parasitics be handled for ESD Protection?

• Reducing EMI Generated from the ESD Surge

What Is ESD?

ESD Stands for Electrostatic Discharge. Electrostatic discharge occurs when electricity ows

through a conductive body when touched by another charged body.

This usually happens when two charged bodies are in physical contact. In the case of

electronics, this phenomenon occurs when the circuit is shorted out at some place, or a

capacitor dielectric has broken down.

What Harm Does An ESD Surge Do?

An ESD surge introduces a high current pulse I of a few nanoseconds into the circuit board

ESD

via connections. If not handled properly, this surge can damage the ICs placed on the PCB

board.

ESD

The voltage V that appears across the board components depends on the current surge

and its path impedance. Since the current is the independent variable here, we try to vary

ESD

impedance to mitigate the e ects of V .

How To Mitigate The Effects Of An ESD Surge?

The simplest way to avoid damage to parts due to an ESD event is to provide it with the easiest

path to the ground, i.e. a low-impedance alternate path. The impedance can’t be zero

because this can result in shorting of IC being protected.

This is where Transient Voltage Suppressor (TVS) diodes are used. TVS provides the

necessary low-impedance path to the ground. The TVS diodes can be used in multiple

variations, and several solution con gurations are available in the market. A few common

https://oxeltech.de/en/esd-best-practices/ 1/14

Parasitics In The Path Of ESD Source, IC And

Typical

TVS

Should These Parasitics Be Handled For ESD

How

Protection?


The paths joining the ESD source, The IC and the TVS introduce parasitic inductances. These

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parasitic inductances are illustrated in the gure below:

As shown in the diagram above, the paths between the data port, diode and IC have been

labelled as separate inductances, and their description is given here:

LPORT is the inductance between the data port and the rest of the IC and diode

assembly

LIC is the inductance connecting the IC to the diode and the data port

LESD is the branch inductance for the diode

LGND is the inductance of the second end of the diode providing a return path to ground

The following point help in handling the parasitics mentioned above for optimum ESD

solution:

The ratio between LPORT and LIC should be decreased to direct the current to the TVS

instead of IC. Conversely, LIC can also be increased to achieve the objective. We can

place the IC as far from the TVS as possible (centre of the board). This will increase LIC

as compared to LPORT. Furthermore, we should place TVS as close to the Connector as

possible, which will reduce LPORT.

We can also introduce a series resistor between the ESD source and the IC in order to

reduce the current ow into the IC. However, care must be taken while using the bu

er

resistor in case of high-speed lines so that signal a

enuation can be avoided.

To ease the owing current into the TVS and to the ground, it is necessary to reduce the

LESD and LGND. One way of doing this would be to shorten these respective traces.


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To conclude, we have looked at what ESD surges and spikes are and ways to reduce parasitics

so that we can e ectively use protection solutions like TVS diode arrays. Lastly, we learned

about shaping traces to reduce EMI interference and cross-talk between signal paths.

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If you are dealing with ESD-related problems in your product or any other safety-related

problem, or if you need Consultancy on any Hardware design

(h ps://oxeltech.de/en/hardware-design-and-simulation/) topic, feel free to Contact Us

(h ps://oxeltech.de/en/contact-us/) for our Consultancy. You can check out our other

Technical Blogs (h

ps://oxeltech.de/en/blog/) on various topics or visit our new website

Oxeltech.de to learn about our services and products.

Oxeltech

Team

December 6, 2022(h ps://oxeltech.de/en/2022/12/06/)

(h ps://oxeltech.de/en/esd-bestpractices/#respond)

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A Complete Guide on ESD Best Practices (Electrostatic Discharge)

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