What are the specific effects of an EMP on electronics?

Within the next decade or two, Earth is attacked by an alien fleet. The various militaries have some forewarning and are able to destroy the attackers by launching most of their nuclear arsenal at the alien craft, but not before they are able to seed a fast-acting bioweapon that wipes out all unprotected life on earth. Survivors were able to take shelter immediately prior to the attack, and are now looking to scavenge supplies from the wreckage and rebuild stuff.

If I understand correctly, multiple nuclear blasts in the upper atmosphere/low orbit would produce a significant EMP effect, destroying most (all?) unshielded electronic devices. What I haven't been able to find is exactly what gets destroyed.

1. How widespread would the damage from an EMP (or multiple EMPs) be on a specific device? A few critical components destroyed, many components, the whole board slagged?
2. Would certain components on a circuit board be more susceptible to damage than others? IE, would capacitors be likely to blow but resistors be OK, all the microcontrollers burnt out, the PCB itself suffer damage, something else?
3. Would new parts be resistant to EMP effects? I'm particularly thinking of new computer components which are disconnected from everything and often stored in anti-static materials to prevent damage before they're installed, would this provide any protection from EMPs?
4. Could someone with a very strong understanding of electronics, proper tools and documentation, a lot of patience, and a large supply of junk electronics to cannibalize repair electronic devices to working order? Any restrictions on what sort of stuff wouldn't survive ever, what sort of components would be rare, what would be common? I'm particularly interested in scientific and medical machinery as found in hospitals and universities, vehicles, communication devices and infrastructure, and computing devices.

(Weapons weren't particularly aimed to cause EMP effects, but given the circumstances they weren't particularly concerned about them either. Assume that my survivor(s) are in a location that was specifically prepared for this eventuality, and have schematics and specifications for many of these devices/component and/or are exceptionally qualified to reverse-engineer them)

posted almost 7 years ago

The Dark Canuck‭

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