The EMC Blog - Common EMC Phrases that are Misleading

Perhaps I've become somewhat of an EMC curmudgeon, but it really bothers me when somebody says their microcontroller is "radiating." I have the same response if they say a trace is radiating or a gap in a return plane behaves like a slot antenna. In my opinion, statements like this mislead well-meaning product developers and encourage poor design practices. And it's not just misuse of the word radiating that bothers me. There are several phrases commonly repeated in EMC publications and presentations that bother me (probably much more than they should). Here are a some of the things EMC people often repeat that make me cringe.

Image of chatbox screen with message "Can I help you?"The microprocessor is radiating!

Perhaps tha's true, but not enough to matter in an EMC radiated emissions test. I think it's important for EMC engineers to distinguish between electromagnetic radiation and field-coupling. They are very different coupling mechanisms. There is almost no overlap between guidelines for preventing radiated coupling compared to guidelines for dealing with electric- or magnetic-field coupling.  

Common EMC phrases that are misleading

scheduled for June 2026