Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is the sudden flow of electricity between two electrically charged objects caused by contact, an electrical short, or dielectric breakdown. The natural phenomena of ESD has been occurring for as long as our planet has been around and apparently it has been a problem for much of that time. A recent post…
Two important elements to managing an ESD Control Plan are: controlling access to the ESD Protected Area and record keeping of personnel grounding devices – wrist strap, foot grounders, and smocks. ESD coordinators are faced with the challenge of limiting access to the ESD Protected Area to people that are properly trained to handle ESD…
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Low Profile The profile of a right angle banana plug when inserted in a banana jack is approximately 4 times less than a straight banana plug. The lower profile reduces the opportunity for people, carts, or other things in the work area to accidentally disengage or damage the banana plug. Reduced Strain on Cord…
We are regularly asked if paper is OK in the ESD Protected Area or at an ESD workstation. Regular paper is insulative but tends to be low charging because it is hygroscopic (readily absorbs moisture). The primary concern with paper is placing ESD sensitive items on the paper interfering with the path-to-ground of the grounded ESD mat. Best practice…
On the EDN Network‘s “Rowe’s and Columns” blog, Martin Rowe’s recent post is about the disintegration of his wrist strap. I’ve used ESD wrist straps whenever I work on a computer and have never had an ESD problem, even in dry winter conditions. Today, I needed to open a desktop computer so I reached for…
A typical ESD Control Plan covers a facility from receiving to shipping. Within the facility, the established ESD Protected Area must account for all potential points where ESD may damage ESD susceptible devices. A white paper from Brady Corporation covers controlling ESD on PCB and component labels. The paper points out that: One common area…
EMIT installed our IRIS Room Ionization System at a customer over this past weekend. The room called for a 3 zone system covering approximately 10,000 square feet. The power supplies and components are built in our factory in Chino, CA leading up to the scheduled installation date with the customer. An outline of the installation schedule…
Published in InCompliance Magazine Written by The ESD Association April 01, 2014 The ESD Association has published the second of a six part article titled Fundamentals of Electrostatic Discharge in the April edition of InCompliance. Part two covers the following topics: Basic Principles of Static Control Design In Protection Define the Level of Control Needed…
Published in InCompliance Magazine Written by The ESD Association January 01, 2014 The ESD Association has published the first of a six part article titled Fundamentals of Electrostatic Discharge in the January edition of InCompliance. The article starts with the following introduction: To many people, Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is only experienced as a shock when…
Read more Fundamentals of Electrostatic Discharge – Part One: An Introduction to ESD
Ionization is probably the most misunderstood and under used technology for controlling ESD. There are some cases where ionization would be primary method of controlling ESD in an ESD Protected Area and there are others where it would not even be necessary. The need for ionization largely depends on what and how ESD susceptible devices…