Electrostatic discharge currents and their derivatives' approximation by piecewise power-exponential functions

An analytically extended function based on power-exponential functions is used in this paper for approximation of electrostatic discharge (ESD) currents and their derivatives. The Marquardt least-squares method (MLSM) is applied for obtaining nonlinear function parameters. IEC 61000-4-2 Standard ESD current is approximated, as well as some measured ESD currents' wave shapes. Power-exponential terms are extended at the local maxima and minima of the represented wave shape, so that this approximation is done from peak to peak. ESD current derivative is approximated using the same procedure in order to obtain the continuous second order derivative of the current, as all piecewise functions are of differentiability class C$^{1}$. Currents and their derivatives are often measured in ESD experiments so that their analytical representation is needed for simulation of ESD phenomena, better definition of standard requirements, and computation of the transient fields and induced effects.