ESD & EMI Considerations
Specific Learning Outcomes
• Explain electrostatic discharge (ESD).
• Understand the risks and possible damages
involved due to improper handling of ESD
components.
• Describe the special handling of components
sensitive to ESD discharges and anti-static
protection devices for components and
personnel.
REFERENCES
IR Part 66 Aircraft Maintenance License (Module 5) by Barry College ICAT
Reprinted with permission of the copyright owner, Barry College ICAT. All rights reserved. .
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• Discuss the influence of EMC – Electromagnetic
Compatibility, EMI – Electromagnetic
Interference, HIRF – High Intensity Radiated
Field, Lightning/lightning protection on
maintenance practice for electronic systems.
• Discuss the units installed in the aircraft and
portable units like mobile phones, electronic
notebooks that contribute to electromagnetic
radiation.
• Explain the use of PCB and the materials used in
the manufacturing processes.
• Discuss the use of PCB and protective measures
required.
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Introduction

 Advancements in technology challenge is

associated with the handling of
semiconductor devices that are susceptible
to damage from stray electric charges.

 Problem can potentially affect a wide range

of electronic equipment fitted in an aircraft
including total failure of the LRU but without
any visible signs of damage!

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Avionics bay of passenger aircraft
containing LRUs and electrostatic
sensitive devices (ESD)

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 Electrostatic Sensitive Devices (ESD) are
electronic components and other parts that are
prone to damage from stray electric charge.

 Extensive (and permanent) damage to static

sensitive devices can result from mishandling
and inappropriate methods of storage
and transportation.

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Static electricity

 When two dissimilar, initially uncharged

non-conducting materials are rubbed
together, the friction is responsible in
transferring charge from one material to
another and thus raising the electric
potential between them.

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 Triboelectric charging
 The process of electron transfer as a result of
two objects coming into contact with each
other and then separating is known as
'triboelectric charging'.

 The amount of charge depends on factors

like the rate of separation, humidity etc.

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The Triboelectric series
AIR
HUMAN HANDS Increasingly Positive
ASBESTOS
RABBIT FUR
GLASS
MICA
HUMAN HAIR
NYLON
WOOL
LEAD
SILK
ALUMINIUM
PAPER
COTTON -----
STEEL Neutral
WOOD
AMBER
SEALING WAX
HARD RUBBER
NICKEL COPPER
BRASS SILVER
GOLD PLATINUM
SULFUR
ACETATE RAYON
POLYESTER
CELLULOID
ORLON
SARAN
POLYURETHANE
POLYPROPYLENE
PVC (VINYL)
KEL-F (CTFE)
SILICON Increasingly Negative
TEFLON

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The following materials give up electrons and
become positive when charged (and so appear as
positive on the triboelectric scale) when rubbed
against other materials:

• Air (most positive) • Dry human skin

• Leather • Rabbit fur
• Glass • Human hair
• Nylon • Wool
• Lead • Cat fur
• Silk • Aluminium
• Paper (least positive).

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The following are examples of materials that do not
tend to readily attract or give up electrons when
brought in contact or rubbed with other materials
(they are thus said to be neutral on the triboelectric
scale):
• Cotton
• Steel

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The following materials tend to attract electrons when rubbed
against other materials and become negative when charged
(and so appear as negative on the triboelectric scale):

• Wood (least negative) • Amber

• Hard rubber • Nickel, copper, brass & silver
• Gold and platinum • Polyester
• Polystyrene • Saran
• Polyurethane • Polyethylene
• Polypropylene • Polyvinylchloride (PVC)
• Silicon • Teflon (most negative)

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 When both of the materials are from the
positive side, the material with the greatest
ability to generate charge will become positive
in charge.

 Similarly, when two materials that are both

from the negative side are rubbed together,
the one with the greatest tendency to attract
charge will become negative in charge.

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 Electrostatic voltages due to
triboelectric effect
Situation Typical electrostatic voltage generated

20% relative humidity 80% relative humidity

Walking over a wool/nylon carpet 35kV 1.5kV

Sliding a plastic box across a 18kV 1.2kV

carpet
Removing parts from a 15kV 1kV
polystyrene bag
Walking over vinyl flooring 11kV 350V

Removing shrink wrap packaging 10kV 250V

Working at a bench wearing 8kV 150V

overalls

Table 1
Representative values of electrostatic voltages generated in typical work situations

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Electrostatic Sensitive Devices
(ESD)
 All modern microelectronic components
are prone to damage from stray electric
charges.
 These devices that can be damaged or
destroyed by static electricity
discharges due to improper handling
are referred to as Electrostatic
Sensitive Devices (ESD).

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 Static voltage susceptibility
Type of Device Typical static voltage susceptibility
CMOS Logic 250V to 1kV
TTL Logic 550V to 2.5kV
Bipolar Junction Transistors 150V to 5kV
Dynamic memories 20V to 100V
VLSI microprocessor 20V to 100V
MOSFET transistors 50V to 350V
Thin Film resistors 300V to 3kV
Silicon Controlled Rectifiers 4kV to 15kV

Table 2
Representative values of static voltage susceptibility for different semiconductor devices

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 ESD Damage
 In the aircraft, damage to the internal
components of an ESDS LRU
• Changes in system characteristics and / or
performance degradation also known as latent
defect
• Complete destruction or catastrophic failure
 Latent defect refers to a device that is partially
degraded yet can still perform its intended
function.

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Events that causes ESD

1. Electrostatic discharge from a human

body or
charged material to the ESDS device.
2. Electrostatic discharge from the device
3. Field induced discharges

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1. Discharge from human body or
charged material

 When one walks across a floor

 High Voltage potential of the
static charge in insulators and
semiconductor junctions

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2. Device electrostatic discharge

Movement across surface or vibration

in a package
3. Field induced discharges

Electro Static field induced current or

voltage on the ESD device
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ESD warnings

ESD warning notice in the

avionics bay of a Boeing
ESD warning label 737
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 Various types of ESDS devices
identifiers that can be found in the
aircraft LRUs.

Caution
Yellow is the
background
for all 3
symbols
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Boeing ESD decals

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General rules when handling ESD

 Placards installed on the ESD LRU

shows that you must take the necessary
precautions from static discharges when
removing, installing and moving ESD
LRU’s.

 The ESD printed circuit boards are

identified with a static sensitive placard.

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ESD LRU room

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Removal of ESD LRU’s and ESD
circuit boards
 Contaminated or unwanted material should
be kept clear of the sensitive devices.
 Connect the wrist strap into the Electrostatic
Ground Jack of the card file or recognised
aircraft ESD ground point.
 The electrical connectors are to be covered
using the correct conductive blanks.
 LRU or circuit boards are to be placed in the
correct conductive bag or container which
must display an ESD label.

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Handling and transporting ESD
 Special precautions must be taken
when handling, transporting, fitting
and removing ESD. These include the
following:
1. Use of wrist straps which must be
worn when handling ESD
2. Use a heel strap

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 Figure 6
Figure 5 Using a wrist strap for a bench
Typical on-board stowage for a wrist strap operation (note the grounding jack
connector)
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3. Use of static dissipative floor and bench
mats.

4. Avoidance of very dry environments

5. Availability of ground jacks

6. Use of grounded test equipment

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7. Use of low-voltage soldering equipment and
anti-static soldering stations

8. Use of anti-static insertion and removal tools

for integrated circuits.

9. Avoidance of nearby high-voltage sources

10.Use of anti-static packaging

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Static Controlled work station
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ESD wrist strap

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Electromagnetic Environment (EMC)

 Every electronic equipment with alternating

current radiates unintentional signals and
therefore all electronic circuits radiate some
noise.
 This process of preventing signal radiation
and signal ingression is called
Electromagnetic Compatibility, or EMC.

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Intra-system and inter-system EMC

 During initial aircraft certification, EMC testing looks

at Intra-System EMC and Inter-system EMC.

 Intra-system EMC examines the capability of

subsystems inside the aircraft to operate without
interfering with each other.
 Inter-system EMC examines the capability of each
subsystem in the aircraft, and the aircraft as a total
system, to operate in its intended EM environment
without degradation.

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 Intra-system and inter-system EMC
• Examples of susceptibilities:
• component burnout
• navigation and communication system degradation
• loss of engine power or flight controls
• computer memory or data losses
• To prevent EMI affecting an operational aircraft, the
aircraft and system component manufacturers conduct
intersystem EMC testing , also known as Electromagnetic
Vulnerability (EMV), Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR), or
High Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) testing.

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Lightning and its protection
• Potential source of interference
• Travel the path of least resistance and seek out tall
or metal objects.
• Unpredictable
• Aircraft often trigger lightning when flying through
heavily charged regions of clouds, especially at
night.
• Originates at the aircraft and extends away in
opposite directions.

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 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=036hpBvjoQw

Lightning at night (video)

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Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
• defined as any electromagnetic disturbance that interrupts, obstructs
or otherwise degrades or limits the effective performance of
electronic and electrical equipment or avionics.
• sources of EMI which produce Extremely Low Frequency (ELF)
magnetic fields called H fields comes from video display units (VDU),
photocopiers, air conditioning units, fluorescent lights and electric
wiring.
• Inside the aircraft, EMI can come from computers, headsets, radios
and navigation aids, as well as the electrical power distribution
system of the aircraft.
• External EMI include ground transmitters such as radio, radar, TV
and telephone.

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Personal Electronic Device (PED)
• Personal items such as notebooks, game consoles,
mobile hand phones, etc can produce signals at a range
that could affect various avionic equipment like the gyro
compass, inertial navigation system (INS), etc.

• Airlineshave implemented a general ban on using any

portable electronic device below 10,000 feet and
practically inhibit their use during the aircraft’s takeoff and
landing phases.

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EMI protection
• Can minimised by ensuring that all electronic equipment
is operated with a good electrical ground system.
• Cords and cables connecting the peripherals must be
shielded to keep unwanted RF energy from entering and
leaving.
• Effective shielding of avionic equipment must anticipate
both radiated susceptibility (the degree to which outside
interference affects the reliable functioning of equipment),
and radiated emissions (the extent to which the device
creates EM waves that can affect its function).

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Lightning protection zones on an
aircraft

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• These defined lightning zones are required to ensure
adequate protection of fuel systems, structure and
primary control systems.
• Aircraft protection relies on low resistance and low
inductance paths and joints between all aircraft surfaces
and these are designed at initial manufacture.
• This is achieved by the good earthing of all the system
components and good bonding between all parts of the
airframe.

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 Electrical bonding
• Electrical bonding of the aircraft’s structure protects the
aircraft from static buildup and provides a low resistance
current path for any lightning strike.

• During normal flying, static builds up on the fuselage,

wings and other structures in two ways
• Precipitation Static due to friction with rain particles,
snow and ice crystals, dirt, volcanic ash and other
atmospheric contaminants.
• Electrostatic Induction

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Typical bonding methods

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Static protection
•Static buildup can occur when two objects rub
together and the aircraft friction with the air
molecules caused a negative charge on the
aircraft skin.
•This creates an EMI wave in the region of 10
KHz to 350 MHz
•If properly bonded, these excess charges
gather around the aircraft’s extremities or any
sharp edges on the fuselage.

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•This means they are at the greatest
potential at the wing and tail plane trailing
edges and at the outboard ends of all the
control surfaces.
•These static wick act as conduits for the
electrons to travel through from the
airframe to the surrounding air.

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Typical static wick arrangement

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Summary
1. ESD is caused by static electric charge (Tribo).

2. Improper handling can cause latent and catastrophic

damage to LRUs and electronic devices.

3. Precautions to take when handling ESD.

4. Sources of EMI/EMC due to transmitters, PEDs,

computers and electronic equipment, etc.

5. Ways to minimise and reduce EMI/EMC through

bonding, earthing and using static wicks in aircrafts.

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