At 05:14 PM 4/16/99 -0400, Jim Meagher wrote:
>
>It's unfortunate, but I have met many good technicians with an "I
>shouldn't but I do" attitude.  If they ever had chance to see pictures
>from an electron microscope showing the actual internal damage to an IC,
>they would have more respect for static.
>
(EDIT)r.......
>
>You can damage a chip with a charge so small that you never even feel it
>or notice it.

>Jim Meagher

I'll second what Jim says. Static control training is part of the ISO 9000
requirements where I work, and the training has been extensive. If we don't
use static straps, we are in violation of our ISO 9000 standards.

I've seen the scanning electron micrographs, and the damage is indeed not
pretty. According to our training, a static discharge that you can *feel*
when you touch something is 5000 volts. If you can *see* the discharge,
you've passed 10,000 volts. It takes as little as 5 volts of static
discharge to damage certain sensitive components.

The static strap is not to protect you, it is there to protect the
equipment *from* you. It doesn't work if there isn't a path to ground, such
as an attached power cord. For those of you that are concerned about
working on equipment with a power cord attached, there are devices
available that plug into a wall socket and let you connect just the ground
to the chassis of the equipment. This way the path to ground is preserved
and you won't kill your boards. Use of a static strap is a small price to
pay for the security of knowing you're running sound equipment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rick Lindstrom
<[log in to unmask]>
Tallahassee, FL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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