USB Type-C ESD Protection Series Deliver Industry’s Highest Robustness Surge, Lowest Trigger Voltage

Nexperia has announced that it has optimised its TrEOS ESD protection diode series for use with USB Type-C interfaces. The new USB3.2 standard introduces an optional capacitor at the Rx inputs, so Nexperia is now launching two groups of devices, one that delivers extremely high surge robustness for positioning between the connector and capacitor, and a second that has an extremely low trigger voltage for placement between capacitor and the system chip.

Nexperia’s TrEOS ESD protection technology uses active silicon-controlled rectification to deliver a winning combination of extremely low capacitance (down to 0.1 pF); extremely low clamping (dynamic resistance down to 0.1 Ω) and very high robustness against surge and ESD pulses (up to 20A 8/20 µs for very fast datalines). Turn-on time is also very fast at about 0.5 ns and devices can withstand up to 30 kV contact discharge, exceeding IEC 61000-4-2, level 4. TrEOS devices for applications where the protection is placed before the capacitor are now available with industry’s leading peak pulse current ratings of 9.5, 15 and 20 A for 8/20 IEC61000-4-5 conditions. TrEOS devices for use after the capacitor similarly deliver industry-leading performance, featuring the lowest trigger voltages (Vt1), down to 4.3 V. These features are also relevant for USB Type-A and MicroUSB interfaces.

TrEOS protection diodes are packaged in the widely-used 0603 form factor. Advantages of the very compact, very robust DSN0603-2 (SOD962-2) package include the lack of bond wires, which eliminates another failure mode and results in the lowest inductance for fastest protection. This package is very popular for mobile and computing applications. Further space-saving packages are also available.