Radial planar current detection device having an extended frequency range of response

摘要

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) sensing apparatus (10,52) for testing and displaying extremely high frequency discharges. The apparatus incorporates a surface mounted current shunt in the form of a thin foil or film (30) of less than one skin depth thickness at the frequency of interest. This is sandwiched between a coaxial connector base plate (18) and a ground plane mounting plate (12). The foil or film (30) is symmetrically oriented about the axis of the connector at a central opening (50) in the mounting plate (12). A discharge path is provided through the opening to the foil (30) and, on the other side, through a small resistor (34) to the central conductor (22) of the coaxial connector (14) which may be connected to a measuring or display apparatus (52) for a complete test system. A calibration unit (300) includes a plurality of sensing devices configured for different cutoff frequencies and levels of discharge pulses.