What is ESD?

ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) is one of the most common causes of damage to electronic components during manufacturing, storage, transport and service. Although people often do not even notice it, it can cause immediate or hidden damage and lead to costly returns.

What does the abbreviation ESD mean?

ESD stands for Electrostatic Discharge – the sudden transfer of electric charge between two objects at different potentials. A typical example is the small shock you feel when touching a door handle after walking across a carpet. While a person only starts to feel a discharge at around 3,000 V, modern components can be damaged at less than 100 V.

How does static electricity arise?

Static electricity arises mainly from friction between materials – walking across the floor, clothing movement, handling plastic packaging, or moving containers and chairs. See the article how static electricity arises for details.

Why is ESD dangerous?

A discharge can destroy a component instantly, but more often it causes hidden (latent) damage: the component works at first, yet its lifespan is significantly shortened and it fails later in operation. The article how an electrostatic discharge works explains the mechanism.

Where does ESD cause the most harm?

The most affected areas are electronics manufacturing, repair and service, laboratories, and storage and logistics – anywhere sensitive semiconductor components are handled.

How to protect against ESD?

The foundation is an EPA workstation with consistent grounding. This includes wrist straps, ESD table mats, ESD flooring and suitable ESD garments. The guide how to set up an EPA workstation shows how to put it together.

Conclusion

ESD is an invisible but real threat to electronics. ESD protection correctly set up to ČSN EN 61340-5-1 noticeably reduces failures, returns and costs. Find more guides in the ESD Guide.