According to a posting on the FDA’s website, the updated Customer Collaboration Portal went live in mid-July and now allows medical device manufacturers to upload medical device submission files for 510(k) and De Novo applications in both eSTAR and eCOPY formats. This eliminates the need for device manufacturers to create and mail compact discs or flash drives to the FDA…

he lithium-ion cell is the heart of the modern-day electric vehicle. Proper cell selection, supported by analysis and testing, can make or break a vehicle’s performance in the market. Consumer concerns of range anxiety, performance in extreme climates, and long-term reliability directly translate into brand image and warranty costs for producers.

This article will review some of the challenges and best practices associated with cell-level testing. Although the focus is on electric vehicle applications, the material presented shares applicability with other market segments in electric mobility as well as energy storage applications, both residential and grid-level.

Managing the EMC Process So You Can Pass the First Time

A typical first step is to interpret the relevant EMC standards that are applicable to the specific application. (Quality, safety, and environmental standards are equally if not more important, but they are not in the scope of this discussion.) One must look at the commercial EMC standards if the product is a fast charger for mobile phones and laptops. The automotive EMC standards should be applied if the product is an on-board charger (OBC) used in an electric vehicle. If it is a product based on wireless power transfer (WPT), one should refer to relevant standards and stay alert to changes as the standards are still being developed.

As an example, Table 1 lists the typical EMC test requirements that are applicable to an OBC.

tatic-control flooring provides protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD) in multiple industries servicing disparate applications that range from eliminating annoying shocks to protecting aircraft flight-tower operations from equipment malfunctions. Often referred to by the term ESD flooring, this category of flooring can protect static-sensitive electronic devices and equipment from harmful (but, due to its invisibility, seemingly inconsequential) levels of static discharge, far below the threshold of human sensitivity. In other instances, ESD flooring is installed to prevent static sparks from causing ignition of flammable chemicals, munitions, explosives, and energetic materials.

In their article “Are Data Centers Drying Up,”¹ authors Beaty and Quirk discuss alternatives to humidification, like ESD flooring, for preventing real-life ESD problems in data centers, such as:

• Self-correcting errors (such as a lost package in LAN traffic);
• An upset that may need user intervention; or
• Actual physical damage to IT equipment

The 44th EOS/ESD Symposium program has six focus areas dedicated to advanced technologies and device testing, automotive, communications, mixed voltage applications, low-power, and EMC. Each focus area comprises sessions with technical papers, invited talks, tutorials, seminars, and workshops. In parallel, the “manufacturing track” offers 3.5 days of technical sessions, hands-on sessions, workshops, discussion groups, and technology showcases in the field of EOS/ESD in manufacturing – control materials, technologies, and techniques.

The Technical Program Committee has selected 23 technical papers for the Symposium covering almost all aspects of the ESD world. These papers are presented by experts from industry and academia, driving leading-edge research and development, and have been peer-reviewed by international experts. Additionally, the RCJ Best Paper authors have been invited to present their work at the EOS/ESD Symposium.

couple of years ago, I needed to know the shielding effectiveness (SE) of screened cables up to at least 18GHz, but – apart from coaxial cables intended for use in EMC² test laboratories – I could only find information up to 100MHz, such as Figure 1.

Accordingly, I set out to make my own measurements with the resources and time made available to me.

In these measurements, I used many different constructions of cable to try to answer the perennial debate about how best to terminate the individual shields of multiple-shielded cables, including single or double overall braids (overbraids), and individual shielded cables contained within an overbraid.

These measurements covered a great deal more than I have described in this brief article, but I am unable to report the other results for confidentiality and/or security reasons.

his is the second of two articles devoted to the Eye Diagram. Part 1 presented the fundamental definitions and concepts [1]. This article, Part 2, addresses the impact of driver, HDMI cable, and receiver on signal quality using data eye, based on the following criteria: data eye opening, data mask violation, and data jitter.

The study focused on the evaluation of eye diagrams using the following criteria: eye opening, eye mask violations, and data jitter. The data jitter was presented in the form of a histogram.

Impact of HDMI Sources

n July 2020, the Industry Council on ESD Target levels, in collaboration with the JEDEC JESD78 working group, launched a survey on latch-up testing. As described in an earlier article [1] in this magazine, the survey was conducted to better understand how the present latch-up standard (JESD78 revision E) is interpreted and used in the industry. The article also invited representatives from the industry to participate in order to collect data and opinions. The survey is closed, but a pdf version is still available at https://www.esdindustrycouncil.org/ic/docs/latchupsurvey2020.pdf.

This article provides a high-level overview of the Industry Council paper “Survey on Latch-up Testing Practices and Recommendations for Improvements,” which describes the full analysis of the collected responses and lays a path for potential adaptations needed to accommodate its use in future technologies and applications. Based on the survey results, we summarize the key issues documented in the paper that include problems with the latch-up standard and its application. Based on that analysis, the compiled results suggest improvements for better understanding and future JESD78 related testing. This article serves explicitly as an invitation to read the published paper, which is freely available from the Industry Council website [2] and will also become available via the JEDEC website [3].