Think Of Static Electricity as Germs and Contamination! Daily life has other examples of hidden enemies where careful procedures must be followed to regularly obtain positive results. One example is sterilization, which combats germs and contamination in hospitals. Damage caused by invisible and undetectable events can be understood by comparing ESD damage to medical contamination of the human…
At this point in our blog series concerning ESD Awareness, we should consider some basic physics: Ohm’s law is an extremely useful equation in the field of electrical/electronic engineering because it describes how voltage, current, and resistance are interrelated. Ohm’s law states that, in an electrical circuit, the current passing through a conductor between two…
There are three ESD Awareness Symbols defined in ANSI/ESD S8.1: ESD Susceptibility Symbol ESD Protective Symbol ESD Common Point Ground To view information about each symbol please click the link or image above. Desco provides downloadable symbol artwork at no charge: ESD Susceptibility Symbol ESD Protective Symbol ESD Common Point Ground Desco utilizes the proper […]
ESD damage is not always visible to the naked eye. ESD damage to electronic components can be: catastrophic and latent. Catastrophic failure causes a failure in an ESD sensitive item that is permanent. The ESD event may have caused a metal melt, junction breakdown or oxide failure. Normal inspection is able to detect a catastrophic failure. A latent…
ElectroStatic charges and ElectroStatic discharges are different. All material can tribocharge (generate ElectroStatic charges). This is static electricity which is an electrical charge at rest. When an electrical charge is not at rest, but discharges (i.e. ESD), problems can occur. All matter is constructed from atoms which have negatively charged electrons circling the atom’s nucleus…
Read more ElectroStatic Charges vs Electrostatic Discharges (ESD)
Charles Murray, Technical Editor of Design News writes “Even casual observers of US space history know the unfortunate story of Gus Grissom. He’s the astronaut who accidently blew the hatch off the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft, causing it to fill with seawater and sink into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean in 1961.” Grissom maintained…
Read more ESD to Blame for Sinking of Astronaut Grissom’s Spacecraft
All US based Desco Industries locations will be closed on Monday May 30, 2016 in observance of the Memorial Day Holiday. Customer service will be closed for the day and no orders will be processed for the day. Normal operations will resume on Tuesday May 31, 2016. Desco Industries, Inc. manufactures ESD control products and…
The major advantage* of ESD shoes is that they do not require a tab to connect to the operator. Conductive additives are blended into the sole (inside to outside) of the ESD shoes and connects (through the sweat layer) to the operator’s feet. However, there are a number of other considerations to when selecting ESD…
Most people notice a difference in the ability to generate static electricity when the air gets dryer (the % RH decreases). As an example, walking across a carpet can yield a charge of 35kV at 10% RH [very dry air], but will drop significantly to 7.5kV at 55% RH. In an electronics manufacturing environment lower…
A complete static control program must also deal with isolated conductors that cannot be grounded and insulating materials (e.g., most common plastics). If an insulator cannot be removed from the ESD Protected Area, substituted with an ESD protective version, or controlled with a topical antistat, ionization must be used. These insulators are often referred to…