Causes of the ESD immunity testing problems in the IEC 61000-4-2 standard

To resolve the poor reproducibility of the electrostatic discharge (ESD) immunity test platform which is specified in the standard IEC 61000-4-2, using a newly designed ESD testing system, the effects of the switch action of ESD generator, the discharge current and its derivative, the radiation field and the imperfect specification of the test method on the testing results were studied. It was found that the effect of the switch action of ESD generator on the testing results was very distinct, and the radiation field caused by the switch action was one of the main cause of the different testing results; different discharge current and current derivative were caused by different ESD generators, which would cause different testing results; the imperfect specification of the test method in the standard was the other reason.