Semtech Solution Protects Against Electrostatic Discharge

By Paula Bernier
Executive Editor, TMC

Semtech Corp. (News - Alert) has come out with a new product called the RClamp0532T that protects multi-gigabit Ethernet data center and telecom applications against electrostatic discharge threats.

This solution is a low capacitance 5V transient voltage protection array. It was designed to work on 2.5 gigabit Ethernet, 5 gigabit Ethernet, and 10 gigabit Ethernet lines in data centers and telecommunications backplanes.

“With the need for increased bandwidth in data centers and telecommunications, high-performance [electrostatic discharge] protection has become increasingly critical to safeguarding multi-gigabit Ethernet lines from ESD spikes to ensure round the clock operation,” Rich Hansen, senior director of product marketing for Semtech’s protection products group, commented.

The RClamp0532T is Pb-Free and RoHS/WEEE compliant. It protects two I/O lines. And it has an ultra small flow through package (1.6mm x1.0mm).

This new solution is available now in production quantities. It’s priced at 33 cents each in volumes of 10,000 units.

There’s a growing need for multi-gigabit Ethernet solutions in light of the digital transformation, as Cisco (News - Alert) notes in its 2016 Virtual Networking Index. That transformation is rapidly increasing demands for data center resources due to the rise of video transmissions, the widespread use of connected devices, and the population’s growing reliance on online content and applications. Cisco says mobile data traffic alone is set to multiply by 10 between 2014 and 2019.

As for electrostatic discharge, that’s been a shocking concern for as long as we can remember. And it’s something you want to avoid in data center environments, as Silverback Data Center Solutions notes in one of its blog posts, which says ESD can be caused by anything from human hair and hands to synthetic materials like food or drink containers.

“In a data center or data center type environment, ESD is something you’d almost always want to avoid,” the blog notes. “It’s the type of thing that can turn your most powerful servers into paperweights. Even on a smaller scale, it can reach anywhere between 10 and 80k volts! That’s enough to put a visible hole in a circuit board.”