Ionization must be used when: A process required insulator can be charged to more than 125 volts AND is within 1 inch (2.5cm) of a ESD sensitive item (TR20.20-2016 ESDA) or A process required insulator can be charged to more than 2000 volts AND is within 12 inch (30cm) of a ESD sensitive item (TR20.20-2016…
When it comes to documenting and implementing an ESD Control Plan, determining what “SHALL” or “Should” be implemented is important to consider. Whether a facility already has a formal ESD control Plan, is ESD Certified, or in the process of establishing an ESD Control Plan, these two little words are critical to the performance and compliance…
Each component in an ESD protected area (EPA) plays a vital part in the fight against electrostatic discharge (ESD). If just one component is not performing correctly, you could harm your ESD sensitive devices, potentially costing your company a lot of money. The problem with many ESD protective products is that you can’t always see…
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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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…
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…
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…
A good article was published on the Circuits Assembly website recently. The article was written by the ESD Association and is titled Managing Your ESD Program. The article discusses the challenges manufactures face in designing and maintaining an ESD control program for their operations. The article goes on to breakdown managing an ESD program in…
The authors of a recent article in InCompliance Magazine titled Early Life Failure of Dissipative Workstation Mats, have confirmed that Desco’s Statfree® T2 was the top performing worksurface mat (Mat ID#4 in the article) in their study. To read the rest of the article click HERE Part of any good ESD Control Program is periodic…
For Compliance Verification periodic testing, how frequently should an ESD control item be checked? Answer: It is user defined, so it is up to you. Best practice is to test each and every ionizer, but you could also decide (if you got good results) to test a percentage of a particular ESD control item. The…