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Mihai , 03-26-2019, 03:32 PM

Hi,

I am designing a custom FPGA board based on the Artix-7 FPGA. Right now I am designing the ESD requirements, hence I am thinking if is really necessary to add TVS diodes on the GPIO connectors which are connected via a series resistor to the FPGA I/O, or to just rely on the internal FPGA I/O body diodes. What do you think?

Thanks,
Mihai

robertferanec , 04-01-2019, 06:56 AM

It really depends on the product you are designing. For example, if your board is in a box, you need to place ESD protection on every signal which is on the panel (on every signal which goes out of the box) and people can touch it. If you are designing a board which will be placed inside a system (e.g. you use ribbon cable to connect it with other board), you do not need to place ESD protections everywhere (internal diodes are usually fine in this case).

Mihai , 04-01-2019, 01:22 PM

Hi Robert,

Indeed, that's was also my conclusion after reading a few design guidelines and looking at other FPGA-based designs.

Cheers,
Mihai