Electrostatic discharge attenuation test for the characterization of ESD protective materials

New experimental method has been developed to evaluate materials, tools, equipment and packaging used in the electronics production environment under Charged Device Model (CDM) type of electrostatic discharge (ESD) transients. The method is intended to characterize the ability of the material or object to attenuate ESD energy and peak discharge current when a charged device is discharged into the material under test. The test is supplementary for the standard quasi-static measurements of ESD control programs in the cases where standard measurements do not give sufficient information due to voltage non-linearity, complexity or shape of the material or object under test.