Articles

Regular cleaning of an ionizer’s emitter pins is necessary to stay within the ionizer’s required limits of ANSI/ESD S20.20. If the ionizer has a filter, it should be cleaned at this time as well. One S20.20 required limit for ionizers is Offset Voltage of less than + or – 50 volts (this is often referred…

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Surface Resistance Test Kit OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Discipline A significant increase in the discipline of implementing the fundamentals of ESD control noted in ANSI/ESD S20.20 Foreword, calls for: Ground all conductors in the EPA including people Remove all insulators from the EPA or use ionizers for process necessary insulators Package ESD sensitive items going outside the…

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Antistatic is the ESD control property properly referred to as “low charging”. This is an important property for all bags used inside or outside of an ESD protected area (EPA). Specifically, it is important that the inside of the bag be low charging, so when the ESD Sensitive Device is inserted into the bag or…

Read more What is the exact difference between antistatic bags and dissipative bags?

By Fred Tenzer There are essentially two types of technologies used for monitoring operator wrist straps: Single-Wire Impedance or Dual-Wire Resistance Monitors. Both technologies monitor the function of an operator’s wrist strap, but it is important to understand how these technologies work and the shortcomings of each. Here is some basic historical information on the…

Read more Fred Tenzer on Continuous Monitor History and Preference

HUMAN BODY MODEL The updated standard ANSI/ESDA/JEDEC JS-001-2011, For Electrostatic Discharge Sensitivity Testing Human Body Model (HBM) – Component Level Table 3 has divided the Class 0 classification into two withstand voltage levels with class 0A being less than 125 volt sensitivity, and class 0B being 125 to less than 250 volts. If handling class…

Read more What is Human Body Model Class 0A?

Using a current limiting resistor in the ground cord is the user’s choice; however, the resistor is not for ESD control purposes. The ESD Association standard for grounding is ANSI/ESD S6.1. ANSI/ESD S6.1 recommends a hard ground (no resistor), but allows the use of a current limiting resistor in the mat’s ground cord. “The grounding…

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Seeing ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD) damage is basically impossible. Damage to semiconductor device structure is NOT visible at ordinary magnifications of an optical microscope. If the microscope is capable of 1000X-1500X magnifications, you just might be able to “see” something. The method used, only occasionally as there is considerable expense, is by delayering and etch enhancement…

Read more Images of ESD Damage