ESD protection

[John E Blacet]

The electronics industry spends a fortune on ESD protection. One reason:
increased reliability and product life.

A couple decades ago, I worked at a small electronics place where the
owner was very opposed to spending any money "on that nonsense". We had
a lot of product failures and our repair business was great. The
customers were not happy, though!

I pushed for basic ESD procedures and got them through the engineering
manager. We used AS mats and wrist straps, AS bags and conductive shield
bags for completed PCAs. ICs stayed in the tubes, not poured out into
cardboard bin boxes.

The results came slowly but we saw far fewer repairs and DOA product.
The customers started smiling. Business got better and better....

You may get away with ignoring AS procedures, but it WILL get you sooner
or later!

A wrist strap and a conductive work surface is a real small investment
compared to having to replace even one IC or having your gear freak out
at a gig.

Major electronics manufacturers even install AS floor tile and make
assemblers wear AS slippers. They would not spend big $$$ if they did
not have statistical proof of the effectiveness of AS procedures.

ICs contain extremely fine structures and a static charge, even one you
don't notice, is like a bolt of lightning!

Debate (if any) closed.

Regards.
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John Blacet
Blacet Research Music Electronics
http://www.blacet.com
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blacet at monitor.net
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