EMC design modifications to solve field failure due to ESD - A case study

One of the major challenges faced by the electronic product designers is to qualify their product for Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) phenomena. This paper discusses a case study of ESD phenomena and recurrent field failures in a consumer electronics product and the solution to the problem. In this paper, the circuit level EMC design modifications that were suggested / implemented to improve the immunity of the product to static electricity discharges are presented. In addition, techniques of shielding the PCB, found necessary to improve the ESD immunity of the product for radiated ESD events, are also presented.