STUDY OF ESD SIGNAL ENTRY THROUGH COAXIAL-CABLE SHIELDS

A study of the effect of electrostatic discharge (ESD) to a coaxial ca ble which connects two systems was made. To study the effect of variou s pathways of ESD, we used a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algo rithm. The disturbance induced in the inside of the cable is evaluated by using the transfer impedance of the cable shield. The effect of ES D on the cable shield is studied as well as the effect of the cable's presence when a remote part of the connected system is targeted. The r esults of our study show that the effect of ESD entering the cable shi eld can potentially be a lot more dangerous than the signal entering t hrough a typical aperture, especially if the frequency content of the discharge is high. A cable also provides a good conductor for ESD sign als to reach other parts of the system. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.