A question about electrostatic discharge.

[ThisJobs4Me]

Hello, I am in the office furniture business and have a customer that is
looking into a product i sell for an electronics lab. The product has basic
laminate tops on particleboard substrate and the question of static discharge
has come up. obvioiusly he is concerned about ICs being damaged by discharge
off the tops. Ive used this product for years and have never seen them cause a
shock but i cant find any verifying information from either my manufacturer or
the manufacturer of the laminate itself. Seems when i was in school for
electronics engineering many years ago we worked in labs on tops of this
material and didnt have problems but id like to find a source of reference. Any
thoughts welcome. Thanks in advance.


D

 

[petrus bitbyter]

Hello, I am in the office furniture business and have a customer that is
looking into a product i sell for an electronics lab. The product has basic
laminate tops on particleboard substrate and the question of static discharge
has come up. obvioiusly he is concerned about ICs being damaged by discharge
off the tops. Ive used this product for years and have never seen them cause a
shock but i cant find any verifying information from either my manufacturer or
the manufacturer of the laminate itself. Seems when i was in school for
electronics engineering many years ago we worked in labs on tops of this
material and didnt have problems but id like to find a source of reference. Any
thoughts welcome. Thanks in advance.


D

Professional labs, workshops, warehouses and other places that are used for
handling electronics parts use special conducting floor-covering, table tops
and furniture all to prevent ESD. Only authorised personel waring conducting
and grounded bracelets are entitled to handle the parts. They often wear
special coats and footware all to prevent electric discharge. This has
nothing to do with electric shocks that may hit people. Even very smal
discharges, the ones you can't possibly feel, may damage MOS devices. If
this parts fail immediately it is bad, if its only partly damaged it's
worse. This is because it wil not perform according to its specs and may
easily fail in the future. Which is more expensive. Furnishing this
workspaces has become profession in its own right. The requirements differ
in many ways with respect to office furniture.

petrus

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Hello, I am in the office furniture business and have a customer that is
looking into a product I sell for an electronics lab. The product has basic
laminate tops on particleboard substrate and the question of static discharge
has come up. obvioiusly he is concerned about ICs being damaged by discharge
off the tops. I've used this product for years and have never seen them cause a
shock but I cant find any verifying information from either my manufacturer or
the manufacturer of the laminate itself. Seems when i was in school for
electronics engineering many years ago we worked in labs on tops of this
material and didnt have problems but id like to find a source of reference. Any
thoughts welcome. Thanks in advance.

D

Laminate worktops are insulating plastics, and can develop enough
charge to damage modern ICs. It doesn't need to be high enough for you
to feel it before it can degrade, or destroy an IC. Not all ESD IC
failures are obvious right away. You can change the

Add a properly grounded antistatic (ESD) mat, and any reasonably
sized smooth, flat surface is a good workbench. Also, he needs a
Anti-static wrist strap connected to the same ground as the mat.


Take a look here for more information: http://www.desco.com/catalog/
--
Merry Christmas!

Take care, and God bless.
Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida