Dear Richard,
Hewlett Packard tests to more than 15 kV.
But please be aware: The severeness of an ESD tests does not always increase
with the test voltage. Depending on the physical failure mechanism (energy,
current, derivative, fields, E-field, H-field, etc.) it will go down with
voltage for air discharge.
Testing > 15 kV is done for the following reasons:
- An environment with a LAREG likelyhood of > 15 kV:
All mobile environments.
Spacecrafts (special case)
- Low likelyhood of > 15 kV ESDs but an EUT which needs to be very
reliable:
Medical
Safety related
- The company wants to ensure that the EUT will pass 8 kV after some years
of usage. Changes are:
Contamination
Cracks in plastic joints etc.
Moisture
The effect of these parameters on the sparking length are not easy to
predict.
- The company wants to ensure that it will pass 10 kV at high altidue.
Note that the breakdown distance
is somewhat 1/proportional to air pressure. If you pass 15 kV in San
Diego, you probably pass no more
than 10 kV in Denver.
- Customer requirement.
- To impress the customer.
- As a company tradition.
In most cases > 15 kV testing is done in air discharge. If you are looking
not only for survival, but for error-free operation, you should use contact
mode testing whereever possible. If you look for error-free operation, it is
also very important to test at a lower voltage in contact mode (e.g., 6kV)
using a fast risetime simualtor (e.g., 100 ps).
There are a larger set of simulators which can do > 15 kV. E.g.,
KeyTek 2000
NoiseKen
some Schaffner (not sure)
some EM-Test (not sure)
Failure criteria depends on the product.
David Pommerenke
University Missouri-Rolla, 1870 Minor Circle, 118 EECH
Rolla, MO 65409-0040
ph: 573 341 4531
home: 573 341 5835
fax: 573 341 4532
email: [email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 8:56 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: ESD Testing
Do any of you perform ESD testing at or above 15 kV to improve product
robustness? I have the following questions.
o What types of products
o What type of user environment
o What is the rational for testing above 15 kV
o What test equipment is used above 15 kV
o What test procedure is used above 15kV
o What is the pass/fail criteria above 15 kV
Thanks, Richard Woods
-------------------------------------------
This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety
Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list.
Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/
To cancel your subscription, send mail to:
[email protected]
with the single line:
unsubscribe emc-pstc
For help, send mail to the list administrators:
Michael Garretson: [email protected]
Dave Heald [email protected]
For policy questions, send mail to:
Richard Nute: [email protected]
Jim Bacher: [email protected]
All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at:
http://www.rcic.com/ click on "Virtual Conference Hall,"
-------------------------------------------
This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety
Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list.
Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/
To cancel your subscription, send mail to:
[email protected]
with the single line:
unsubscribe emc-pstc
For help, send mail to the list administrators:
Michael Garretson: [email protected]
Dave Heald [email protected]
For policy questions, send mail to:
Richard Nute: [email protected]
Jim Bacher: [email protected]
All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at:
http://www.rcic.com/ click on "Virtual Conference Hall,"
