As we have noted before, humidity is not an effective way to control ESD in an electronics production environment. While the ability to generate static electricity increases when the air gets dryer (the % RH decreases), increased humidity does not eliminate the ESD event entirely or provide protection to ESD susceptible devices . As an…
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…
Relative humidity (RH) directly affects the ability of a surface to store an electrostatic charge. As RH increase, the time a surface will hold a charge will decrease and the dissipation rate will increase. As the RH increases, so does the natural conductivity of the air, but even at 100% RH the increase in the…