ESD Test Models and Standards

This chapter discusses the commonly used electrostatic discharge (ESD) testing models some of which are well established and others are still being actively studied. Different ESD phenomena have different ESD mechanisms per their origins, which are described by different ESD test models according to which different industrial ESD testing standards have been developed. The most commonly experienced ESD event in everyday life is associated with charging and discharging a human body, which is characterized by a human body model (HBM). Machine Model-induced ESD failures are likely different from that caused by HBM ESD events. A charged device model ESD event consists of both charging and discharging procedures. International Electrotechnical Commission 61000-4-2 provides guidelines for evaluating equipment under test subjected to ESD stresses from adjacent charged objects including human body and machine. The transmission-line-pulsing ESD testing technique was developed as a powerful alternative to the commonly used pass/fail-type destructive HBM zapping method.