Recently, when I was retrieving my laptop from an airport security tray junction box, I was shocked.This is very common, when the air is dry, the body's accumulated static electricity will discharge through the contact conductor.The first thing that went through my mind was, "oh my god!My computer junction box had better have ESD protection."With the increasing portability of most consumer electronic products and the increasing complexity of their interfaces, we must be fully aware of the increased risk of ESD damage to our devices.So, let's think about how to implement ESD protection in product design.The following "eight important facts to consider when thinking about ESD" is designed to stimulate this thought process and hopefully help you identify key design elements in any electronic system to ensure its reliability.

Junction box active silicon devices are more robust than passive devices.Passive devices such as polymers or rheostat may be cost-effective but do not provide the continuous protection required by the system.These devices not only suffer performance degradation after repeated ESD events, but also require a higher peak voltage to react to ESD events, allowing the system to withstand a higher clamping voltage.By contrast, junction box solutions are more effective in preventing dangerous voltage levels from being introduced into the system and are not plagued by weak passive device performance degradation.As the size of junction box integrated circuits shrinks, so does the ability to resist static electricity.