Practical Papers, Articles and Application Notes

Abstract

DC blocking capacitors are commonly used to separate the DC biasing voltages of two separate circuits operating at different voltage levels. Employing the DC blocking capacitors may seem straightforward, but as operating frequency increases, it can be a challenge to select the right capacitor value due to signal integrity, loss, and reflection issues. The impact of the DC blocking capacitor on the performance of RF circuits has been well studied, but not so for its effects during an ESD event. The first paper, “Investigating the Effect of the DC Block Capacitor on Residual Current in a System-Level ESD-Protected Circuit”, investigates the relation between the residual current and DC blocking capacitor value during the ESD event so that the optimal capacitance can be calculated.