Comparative overview of proposed ANSI ESD guide, IEC and CISPR ESD standards

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is creating a document which provides guidance on electrostatic discharge (ESD) testing procedures for electronic equipment using air discharge and contact discharge methodologies. As much as possible, parts of published and draft ESD standards, such as definitions, target, table-top heights, etc., have been incorporated into the ANSI document. The ANSI guide contains material that has been ignored by other ESD standards committees. The ANSI committee feels strongly that this material is needed to complete the goals of any ESD testing. The primary goal is to insure the quality of products through proper operation in actual use environments. The second goal is to have a realistic, workable, and very repeatable ESD testing procedure. The material that should be covered in any ESD standard is detailed.<>