Electrostatic Discharge (ESD): Protecting your equipment, products and application

Electrostatic discharge, or ESD as it is commonly known, is a simple, but potentially expensive problem that is familiar to anyone working in the electronics industry.

ESD is caused when excess electricity finds a path, from where it is stored in an electrically insulated object, to a place or object with a different electrical potential. This excess electricity, or charge, is created when positive and negative charges in an object become unbalanced. Static electricity is generated, and then discharges when the object in which it is stored comes in contact - or even close proximity - with a different object or material. That discharge usually comes suddenly and often spectacularly in the form of a spark; however, ESD can occur without a spark and any form of ESD is potentially destructive to sensitive electronics, causing obvious failure or a degradation of function.

Protecting sensitive electronic applications ESD is particularly dangerous to semiconductor and other integrated circuit (IC) product manufacturing. Fragile semiconductor wafer and other printed circuit products can suffer serious, permanent damage when exposed to high voltage. If that doesn’t sound like a common occurrence to you, consider this - an operator who is just walking into a clean room may be charged with several thousand volts, but it doesn’t necessarily take high voltage to cause problems. Even though most MOS type ICs have protection circuits of 100 V or higher, a low voltage ESD can break the oxidized film on the surface of an IC and cause damage.

Controlling ESD - tips for making sure your equipment is safe

To minimize the possibility of ESD damage to your sensitive equipment and products, it is important to follow these tips:

• Select microscopes and accessories that are not easily charged with static electricity, such as those constructed from static-reducing materials
• Be sure all equipment can be grounded for safe connection to operators and other equipment
• Choose equipment that can safely and quickly eliminate static electricity by discharging to the ground if it becomes charged

For general inspection of sensitive electronic and components, we recommend the ESD-protected Olympus SZX7, SZ61, and SZ51 series of stereomicroscopes. These microscopes feature a special coating material on high-performance conductive plastic to eliminate electricity quickly and safely. This series of stereomicroscopes also features ESD grounding mounts built into their bases in addition to a choice of ESD protective boom stands.

For more information on ESD and how to control it, download our How to Deal with Static Electricity sheet.