Technical theme topics

It is apparent that EMC problems potentially arise when we have the simultaneous presence of three parts, sources of interference, coupling mechanisms and systems which may fall victims (be susceptible) to interference. Remove or sufficiently control one or more of these three parts and then there is no EMC problem. In our series of articles on technical themes of importance to EMC we will from time to time focus on various aspects of each of these three EMC players and try to understand how to control them. In the current issue we focus on the Immunity of Integrated Circuits (ICs). Clearly, proper design of ICs can reduce their susceptibility to EMI and hence make them increasingly immune to the damaging effects of interference. This in turn means that in other important areas, e.g. control of EMI sources and of coupling paths, we may be able to have less stringent controls which may bring operational and/or cost benefits.