Estimation of parameters for the electrostatic discharge current equation with real human discharge events reference using genetic algorithms

Abstract

Thorough study of the electrostatic discharge (ESD) current equation shows that it may be different from the equation proposed in the IEC 61000-4-2 Standard. This problem is dealt with in this paper. Using a 2.5 GHz digital oscilloscope and a 50 Ω Pellegrini target as the measuring system, and a dc power supply to provide a charging voltage of 2 kVdc, a series of measurements were performed, so real human-to-metal ESD current waveforms were recorded. Treating the average waveform as a reference, a genetic algorithm (GA) was applied to the equation of the IEC 61000-4-2 Standard for the ESD current, in order to achieve its best fitting to the data set. Four different error norms were used for the GA applications. The best result of the applications of each of them was saved and compared to the others. Thus, a very satisfactory modification of the Standard's equation is presented, which is closer to the real ESD current waveform.