Further Validation of IEC Ideal Contact Discharge Current Waveform Based on Air Discharges from ESD Generator

Abstract

To further validate the IEC specified waveform as an ideal contact discharge current presented in 2008 IEC 61000-4-2, a comparison is made with air discharge waveforms from an ESD generator measured under different temperature and humidity conditions by newly introducing the IEC non-specified waveform parameters of 60% time width T of the first peak and falling depth D from the first peak. The result shows that the air discharge waveform is closer to the IEC specified waveform than the contact discharge waveform in both T and D when the rise time and the first peak value meet the IEC requirements. This verifies that the IEC specified waveform has the validity in a sense of well representing the air discharge waveform from the generator.