Columns

Even perfect shields fail with poor aperture design. Learn how slot orientation, size, and placement affect shielding effectiveness, and discover why multiple small holes outperform single large openings using Babinet's principle.

FICDM testing wasn't designed for today's tiny chiplets and flip chip assemblies. Part 1 explores critical challenges: probes too large for microbumps, unreliable air discharge below 250V, and the mounting dilemma for bare die products.

Understanding how shields perform in the near field requires accounting for wave impedance differences between electric and magnetic sources. This sixth installment derives shielding effectiveness formulas for near-field conditions and reveals a surprising truth: copper outperforms steel at low frequencies, but steel's superior absorption reverses this advantage above 4kHz.

Secondary discharges during Field-Induced CDM testing aren't just measurement anomalies—they're real stress events caused by mechanical bouncing of the pogo pin. This groundbreaking investigation reveals how contact vibrations trigger unintended zaps with opposite polarity, provides electrical proof of the mechanism, and offers practical solutions to prevent this hidden reliability threat.

Shielding effectiveness changes dramatically in the near field. This month's column introduces wave impedance concepts for electric and magnetic dipoles, revealing why electric sources behave as high-impedance radiators while magnetic sources act as low-impedance radiators—distinctions critical for designing effective shields close to emission sources.

High-speed automotive serial links supporting ADAS features face a critical challenge: meeting stringent system-level ESD requirements while maintaining signal integrity at 10+ Gbps. This column presents an innovative on-chip protection architecture embedding ESD clamps within T-coil circuits, achieving 8kV ISO protection while supporting data rates exceeding 36 Gbps.Retry

Discover why copper shields outperform steel at low frequencies but steel dominates at high frequencies. This practical guide presents simplified formulas for calculating electromagnetic shielding effectiveness, revealing the surprising crossover point at 4200 Hz where material performance flips.

Real-world ESD discharge currents during semiconductor assembly differ dramatically from standard test predictions. A new Discharge Current Sensor reveals that actual currents are lower but faster than expected, challenging current protection designs for Multi-Chip Modules and Systems in Package.

Part 4A of a comprehensive shielding series derives two practical approximate solutions from exact electromagnetic theory. For good, thick conductors in far-field conditions, multiple-reflection losses become negligible, significantly simplifying shielding effectiveness calculations for engineers.

Discover the exact mathematical solution for far-field shielding effectiveness of solid conducting shields. Learn how reflection, absorption, and multiple-reflection losses combine to determine a shield's ability to block electromagnetic radiation in real-world applications.