A range of multilayer ceramic transient voltage suppressors from AVX meet 15kV ESD pulse (air discharge) per IEC 1000-4-2, Level 4, generating less than 20millijoules of energy.

According to the supplier, this is particularly important to protect ICs against ESD as the typical failure voltage for CMOS and Bi-polar is under 200V.

The zinc-oxide (ZnO) based, multilayer ceramic StaticGuard devices are varistors that feature non-linear, bi-directional voltage-current characteristics similar to back-to-back Zener diodes and an EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) capacitor in parallel.

StaticGuard specifications include a DC working voltage of less than 18Vac working voltage of under 14V, clamping voltage of 50V, versions with capacitances of 40, 50, 80 and 200 pF, peak current rating of 15A for the VC04LC18V500 and 30A for the others, an axial leaded device and SMD case sizes of 0402, 0603, 0805, and 1206.