TVS Diode Test Equipment and Method

Kevin-

We use two primary pieces of equipment to validate and characterize our ESD protection devices. The first is an ESD simulator that outputs an IEC ESD curve, and the second is a Transmission Line Pulse (TLP) machine.

For the ESD Simulation, a good outline of our test setup is in this EVM guide. It's for a different device, but the method is the same regardless. Effectively by using the simulator we can expose our part to a reference IEC waveform, and then by measuring the survival of our diode with no curve shifting we can guarantee our part performs to the stated specification.

The second thing we use is the TLP machine, primarily to characterize the TLP I/V ESD curve you'll see in most ESD protection datasheets.This device runs a series of tests where it outputs a voltage that steps up and then measures both the current through the device and the voltage over the device, creating a curve that shows the devices ESD response. A TLP plot can be read to show what voltage will be clamped to at different levels of ESD strike, with 1kV being roughly 2A. For example, the TPD1E10B09 TLP forward plot shows that at 18V over the device the current is measured at 9A which tells us that the device will clamp a 4.5kV ESD strike at 18V.

Hopefully that gives you a better understanding of how we verify and characterize our devices, and hopefully it will allow your customer to have a starting point if they are interested in verifying the devices internally. Please let me know if you have any follow up questions or would like more clarification!

Thanks,

Alec