The ideal ESD Control Plan is one that improves productivity, quality, and reliability, in addition to being flexible enough to accommodate changes and improvements in the manufacturing process. ESD Control Plans must evolve to keep pace with costs, device sensitivities, and the way devices are manufactured in the future. The management of an on-going ESD Control Plan can be broken down into 3 steps: 1. Measure, 2. Control, and 3, Verify.
Step 1. Measure the source the of ESD events.
Examples:
- Measure the resistance of an operator to ground.
- Measure the charge generation (walking test) of an operator.
- Measure the static field on a housing of an assembled product.
Step 2. Control ESD by implementing products to eliminate the source of ESD events.
Examples:
- Control charges generated by an operator by implementing a personnel grounding (wrist strap or footwear/flooring) system.
- Control charges generated by operators when walking in the ESD Protected Area by installing a footwear/flooring system.
- Control charges on insulators and isolated conductors with ionization at the work area.
Step3. Verify that the ESD control measures implemented are functional and effective.
Examples:
- Verify that operators are using their wrist strap correctly with continuous monitoring.
- Verify that people entering the ESD Protected Area are wearing properly functioning ESD footwear with access control style wrist strap/footwear testers.
- Verify the charge discharge times, offset voltage (balance), and coverage area of an ionizer with ionization test kit.
Feel free to contact Desco for tips how you can effectively measure, control, and verify ESD in your work area.