An alternative air discharge test in contact discharge of ESD generator through fixed gap

Abstract

It is notable that the air discharge method specified in the International Eelectrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard provides unstable testing reproducibility. In this paper, to achieve stable testing reproducibility, we proposed an alternative air discharge test method using an electrostatic discharge (ESD) generator in contact discharge mode. Measurements of air discharge currents through a fixed gap to sphere or conical electrodes in view of various metal curvatures inside equipment covered with a non-conductive case were conducted with respect to different gap lengths from 1 mm to 6 mm, and their current peaks and rise time were investigated in conjunction with the statistical variations. Comparison with air discharge current waveforms was also made to reveal better testing repeatability for the proposed method.