Low Capacitance ESD Protection for High Bandwidth Interfaces

Jul 6, 2011 1:18 PM

ON Semiconductor has released its newest product for integrated electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for use in notebooks, tablets, and external storage devices. The new ESD7004 is specifically designed to preserve signal integrity in high speed applications such as USB 3.0 (5 gigabits per second, Gb/s) and eSATA (up to 6 Gb/s). The device breaks the current industry capacitance barrier offering an ultra low 0.4 picofarad (pF) rating, while maintaining extremely low ESD clamping voltage.

As high speed interfaces exceed 5 Gb/s, a few tenths of a picofarad capacitance can have a major effect on the signal integrity of the data being transmitted. By lowering the capacitance down to 0.4 pF typical, 0.5 pF maximum, the ESD7004 offers an ESD protection solution that has virtually no effect on eye diagrams of USB 3.0 at 5 Gb/s and eSATA at 6 Gb/s. In addition, these parts maintain less than 1 decibel (db) insertion loss at over 8 gigahertz (GHz) during S21 measurements, ensuring negligible effect on high speed data transmission.

Utilizing ON Semiconductor's patented ESD protection silicon which incorporates innovative isolation techniques, the ESD7004 offers extremely low clamping voltages and fast response time during ESD events. These designs boast clamping voltages at 11.4 volts (V) or less during Transmission Line Pulse (TLP) +/-8 amperes (A) testing which safeguards chipsets using small geometries and low voltage tolerances, common for high speed datalines. An ESD rating of 15 kV contact per the IEC61000-4-2 standard and low turn on resistance during ESD events ensures that the most sensitive chipsets will be safe from ESD threats.

This ESD7004 is offered in the popular uDFN 2.5 mm x 1.0 mm x 0.5 mm 10-pin package which integrates four lines of protection in a flow through routing pinout that enable board designers to route traces easily with minimal impact to impedance matching. Budgetary pricing for this device is $0.097 per unit in 10,000 unit quantities.

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