Don't know if there are any web pages showing the fundamental differences; however, the differences in how the test is applied is described in IEC 61000-4-2.
As a matter of history, contact mode testing was introduced in the mid-80's as a method of doing repeatable ESD testing by eliminating the variables of tip and victim equipment geometry, approach speed, humidity, air ionization, etc... Basic work was done in Switzerland to prove this was a viable method of testing products and would produce failures like those produced by air discharges. By the way, there was never any intention to imply that the 4kV contact mode test was equivalent to an 8kV air discharge, or 8kV contact to 15kV air, or 2kV contact to 4kV air, etc... The levels for air and contact were considered to be reasonable, but not necessarily equivalent. To establish an equivalency, it would be necessary to perform both air and contact tests on a specific product and look at the results. The point of contact testing was to develop a test that could be repeatable and reproducible from one location to another. Don't know if this helps, but good luck anyway. Michael Hopkins Thermo KeyTek ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 2:01 AM Subject: ESD - Air vs contact > > Hi all, > > Do anyone of you have a link to a web which describes the fundamental > differences between air- and contact discharge ? or a common ESD web-site ? > > I am aware of http://www.esda.org > > Best regards > Amund Westin, Oslo/Norway > > -- > Get your firstname@lastname email for FREE at http://Nameplanet.com/?su > > ------------------------------------------- > 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,"
