Methodology to study the resistance of spark discharges

Author

Greason, William D.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Ont., Canada

Volume

3

fYear

1997

fDate

5-9 Oct 1997

Firstpage

1907

Abstract

Spark discharges are normally associated with real event electrostatic discharges (ESD). The electrical characteristics of the spark channel can influence the nature of the discharge current which can cause both direct and indirect damage in semiconductor devices and electronic systems. In this work, a method is described to determine the resistance of spark discharges. Discharge currents are measured for underdamped and forced overdamped cases; an analysis of the resulting waveforms is used to calculate the effective resistance of the discharge. The technique is applied to measure the resistance of a spark discharge between two spherical electrodes

Keywords

electric current measurement; electric resistance measurement; electrodes; electrostatic discharge; sparks; current measurements; discharge current; effective resistance calculation; electrical characteristics; electronic system damage; electrostatic discharges; spark channel; spark discharge resistance; spherical electrodes; Current measurement; Electric resistance; Electric variables; Electrical resistance measurement; Electrodes; Electrostatic discharge; Electrostatic measurements; Force measurement; Semiconductor devices; Sparks;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Industry Applications Conference, 1997. Thirty-Second IAS Annual Meeting, IAS '97., Conference Record of the 1997 IEEE

Conference_Location

New Orleans, LA

ISSN

0197-2618

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4067-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IAS.1997.626316

Filename

626316