ESD Calibration Target

Description

After some repairs on a slightly older ESD simulator, we felt the need to do a verification of the output pulse. Particularly the voltage, but it would be great to view the actual waveform as well. Only problem was these standardized ESD targets; these are ridiculously expensive for what is basically just a little bit of brass & stainless steel, some Teflon/PTFE and an N connector. We checked what’s required and how to make it, and the result is here.

For time being we seem unable to verify it’s S21 insertion loss beyond 2GHz. Probably because we use a second target without the 2.04Ω termination resistance instead of the recommended conical adapter line. Or because we only use one of these low-cost LiteVNA64 devices. Or perhaps our manufacturing tolerances are way off. Anyway, up to 1GHz it appears within the required ±0.5dB tolerance range and up to ~2GHz within the ±1.2dB range. After 2Ghz it gains about 6dB.