System ESD immunity through gate array design

Abstract

A major source of today's electronic system electrostatic discharge (ESD) failure mechanism is the EM field radiation interference from ESD. The conventional ways to harden the system immunity against this electromagnetic interference (EMI) field susceptibility include shielding, ground bonding, noise pickup circuit loop reduction, noise decoupling, and suppression. The case presented involves resolving a desktop computer system ESD susceptibility problem by using circuit design changes to custom gate array ICs to achieve the system ESD immunity.<>