System-Efficient ESD Design based on a Modular Measurement System applied to USB

A modular system-level Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) evaluation platform is described. It forms a flexible instrument which allows the investigation of the impact of various system-level and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) ESD design choices. The Transmission Line Pulse (TLP) and IEC 61000-4-2 pulse behavior of a Universal Serial Bus USB) 3.0 re-driver IC protected by different Transient Voltage Suppressors (TVS) is investigated. The system includes modules with varying functionality which can be flexibly combined on a baseboard. IV curves, leakage current, S-parameters, USB data errors and IC power consumption can be monitored to detect damage or soft fail disturbances. We report on the ESD protection achieved with two types of TVS: TVS with and without snap-back characteristics. The measured voltages and currents are compared to a System Efficient ESD Design (SEED) simulation. This modular system allows rapid implementation of complex experimental characterization setups to investigate system level ESD response, providing essential input to improve design robustness using the SEED modelling concept.