The 2007 version of the ANSI/ESD S20.20 has been updated. The ESDA continues to remove guidance from the ANSI/ESD S20.20 and focus the document on the requirements for an ESD Control Plan. Guidance for how to meet requirements of the ANSI/ESD S20.20 and how to mange the ESD Control Plan is detailed in the ESD Handbook-…
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…
Read more ESD Process Control and Data Acquisition Solutions
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…
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…
Drag chains and grounding mobile equipment, such as carts, can be a challenge in any ESD Control Plan. The required limit for cart work surfaces per ANSI/ESD S20.20 is less than 1 x 109 ohms resistance to ground. In the most recent edition the ESDA November 2013 Threshold E-News Question and Answer section there is…
See published article Now Is The Time for ESD Control Programs to be Improved It includes: HUMAN BODY MODEL Part of the challenge may be for the first time needing to handle electronics having a HBM Class 0A withstand voltage. Per the ANSI/ESD S20.20 Foreword: “This standard covers electrical or electronic parts, assemblies and equipment…
Read more ESD Sensitivity – Classifications – Withstand Voltage
An excerpt from Terry Welsher’s InCompliance article titled – The “Real” Cost of ESD Damage about using “split lot” experiments to determine the effectiveness of ESD control when manufacturing electronics. “At the time of the first EOS/ESD symposium in 1979 there were few mature ESD programs, but many companies were trying to establish them. Some of…
Read more Early Split-lot Experiments Helped Prove the Need for ESD Control Programs
The “standard” resistance value for a wrist strap is to be 1 megohm (+/-20%). Touch-Testers test for this, so should your single-wire constant monitor. One of the ways that manufacturers of low cost continuous monitors cut corners is to not monitor for a current-limiting resistor in the wrist strap system. While there is no industry…
Read more Does your Continuous Monitor Test for a Resistor in the Wrist Strap?
Damage visible using Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) after significant enhancement by delayering and etch enhancement. Used with permission of Hi-Rel Laboratories, Inc. Spokane WA 99217 – http://www.hrlabs.com Photo of ESD arcing from finger to component. This is not a computer simulation. Technician was connected to a small magneto. This is not HBM-ESD. Extensive damage on…