1- Shielding Effectiveness

The implementation of an EMI shield is decided by measuring its SE. The EMI SE of a material
is defined as the enfeeblement of propagating electromagnetic waves produced by the shielding
materials. Shielding effectiveness can be specified in the terms of reduction in magnetic field,
electric field, or plane‐wave strength caused by shielding. SE is normally expressed in decibels dB) as a
function of the logarithm of the ratio of the incident and transmitted electric (E),
magnetic (H), or plane‐wave field intensities (F)

Higher values of SE in decibels indicate that a small amount of energy passes through the
shield and most of the energy is absorbed or reflected by the shielding material.

Therefore, the total SE is the sum of contributions from shielding by reflection (SER), absorption (SEA),
and multiple reflections

(SEM), and is given by the equation:

SEtotal SER SEA SEM

When SEA is greater than 10 dB, SEM can be neglected and SEtotal will be as follows :
SEtotal =SER+ SEA

a- Absorption Loss
When an electromagnetic wave passes through a medium its amplitude decreases exponentially.
This decay or absorption loss occurs because current induced in the medium produces
ohmic losses and heating of the material;

For a shielding material, the skin depth (δ) is the distance up to which the intensity of
the electromagnetic wave decreases to 1/e of its original strength. The skin depth is related to
frequency, relative permeability, and total conductivity as:

Absorption losses are a function of the physical characteristics of the shield and are independent
of the type of source field. Therefore, the absorption loss is the same for all three waves
and is given by the expression:

where SEA is the absorption or penetration loss expressed in dB and t is the thickness of the
shield in mils. The above equation shows that the absorption loss increases with increase in
thickness of the shield.
In terms of skin depth, SEA can be expressed as
 b- Reflection Loss
The reflection loss depends entirely on the discrepancy between the intrinsic impedance of
the shield and the free space and is independent of the thickness of the shield. The equations for
the three principal fields are given by the expressions

where RE, RH, and RP are the reflection terms for the electric, magnetic, and plane wave fields
expressed in dB; G is the relative conductivity referred to copper, f is the frequency in Hz, μ is
the relative permeability referred to free space, and r1 is the distance from the source to the
shield in inches.
c- Multiple Reflection Correction Factor
If the shield is thicker than δ, the conductive material absorbs the reflected wave from the
internal surface, and thus multiple‐reflection can be ignored.
The factor SEM can be mathematically positive or negative (in practice it is always negative)
and becomes insignificant when the absorption loss SEA is >10 dB. It is usually only
important when metals are thin and at low frequencies, i.e. below approximately 20 kHz.
The multiple reflection correction factor (SEM) can be expressed as

where A is the absorption loss; K is given by:

where ZS is the shield impedance and ZH is the impedance of the incident magnetic field.
When ZH < < ZS, the multiple reflection factor for magnetic fields in a shield of thickness t
and skin depth δ can be simplified

2- Calculation of Electromagnetic Shielding Effectiveness

a- Calculation of SE of a Material by Using Plane Wave Theory
The plane wave shielding theory can efficiently calculate the SE value of any shielding material based
on its material properties and thickness. The following steps should be followed to calculate
the electromagnetic SE of a material:
(1) Determine the skin depth from the values of frequency, permeability, and conductivity by using
the equation

(2) Find the electromagnetic SE by absorption from the values of skin depth and thickness of the
material by using the following equation
 (3) Calculate the intrinsic impedance of the material with the help of the following equation by using
the values of frequency, permeability, and conductivity

(4) Determine the electromagnetic SE by reflection from the values of impedance of free space (η0)
and intrinsic impedance of the material (ηs) according to the equation

(5) The SE of an infinite sheet of good conductor can be written in the form

 For conductive materials that are electrically thin (i.e. t < <λ), we can include a third term in
the expression for SE to account for multiple reflections

b- Calculation of SE for Near Field Shielding :

Practical shields are never located in the far field of both the source and receptor circuits. This leads to
a new expression for the reflection loss term and no change in the expressions for absorption loss and
multiple reflection loss

3- Effect of Various Parameters on Electromagnetic Shielding Effectiveness :

a- Frequency of the incident electromagnetic field:
The reflection loss decreases with increasing frequency while the absorption loss increases with
increasing frequency. The decrease of reflection loss with increasing frequency occurs due to the
increase of shield impedance with frequency whereas the absorption loss increases with frequency
because of the decrease of the skin depth with frequency. The SER and SEA for a plane wave can be
represented as:

where σ is electrical conductivity, μ is permeability, and f is frequency. These equations can clearly
illustrate the variation of reflection loss and absorption loss with frequency.
b- Type of electromagnetic field source (plane wave, electric field, or magnetic
field):
SE value depends on the type of electromagnetic field source as the reflection
loss equations for a plane wave, electric field, and magnetic field are different.
c- Shield thickness:
The absorption loss increases with increasing thickness of the shield whereas the
reflection loss is independent of the thickness of the shield.
d- Conductivity, permeability, permittivity, and dielectric constant of the
shielding material:
Shielding effectiveness in terms of dielectric constant (ε), conductivity (σ), and
permeability
(μr) can be expressed as
e- Distance of the shield from the source:
In the near field, the magnetic field diminishes at a rate of (1/r)3, whereas the
electric field diminishes at a rate of (1/r)2. In the far field, both the electric and
magnetic fields enfeebleat a rate of 1/r.
f- Polarization:
The SE value depends on polarization because the dielectric properties of the
material results from ionic, electronic, orientational, and space charge
polarization.
g- SE value varies with the size of the shielded volume, the geometry of the
shield, direction of
incidence, and position within the shield where the field is measured .
h- Apertures in the shield:
According to aperture theory, the shielding decreases with increasing number of
apertures provided the thickness of the material is less than the aperture size.