Daily Image

18-07-2007
PreviousNext
Click here or on the picture for a full size image.

ESD on LOFAR HBA Front-end Receiver

Submitter: Henri Meulman
Description: Electro Static Discharge (ESD) can damage the sensitive electronics on the HBA front-end receiver. A person can charge it self just by walking, or standing up from a chair or other means, to very high voltages. Wearing synthetic clothes can drive up the static voltages up to extreme high voltages. In combination with low humidity this is devastating for electronic devices. In this situation it is no exception that a human body can charge itself easily up to 15000 Volt.
Signals from the universe are often very weak. This means that very sensitive receivers are needed to receive those signals. The disadvantage of very sensitive components in the receiver is that they are not immune for high voltages.
Some measures has been taken to let the receiver withstand the electro static discharges in normal environmental situations. This was difficult because these measures can easily reduce the sensitivity of the receiver.
To test the level of protection against ESD the receiver has been placed on a non conducted plate and an electro static voltage has been discharged on the input output and on the edges of the receiver. The input of the receiver is the most sensitive part of the circuit, and can withstand a contact discharge of 4KV. This is high compared to an unprotected component, that can withstand only a view volt, but a person wearing woolen clothes can still damage the receiver when the humidity is below 40%.
Copyright: Astron
 
  Follow us on Twitter
Please feel free to submit an image using the Submit page.