Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Cleaning Circuit Boards and "Static" rant

Ballendo,

Ok, I guess I'll jump in here and open my big mouth. My experience with
(absence of) static damage would seem to parallel that of Mariss. I
worked with some of the very early MOS devices at TRW back in the late
sixties and I never popped one then, and never have since.

I fully understand why this *should* be a problem, but I've never worn a
wrist strap, or used any of the other standard tricks, and never had it
happen. It may just be that I'm careful about the order in which I touch
things, without really thinking about it.

The closest I've come to seeing this problem in the real world was in
some production boards that were showing a high failure rate in testing.
I was the "responsible engineer" for these and spent a quite a while
chasing this. To make a long story short, it came down to either ESD
damage or a bad batch of chips, and I was never sure which.

None of this proves anything, of course, but I tend to think ESD
prevention measures are generally over done.

Jeff

On Mon, 27 Nov 2000 02:36:32 -0000, Ballendo wrote:

>Mariss,
>
>Not really sure I want to get into this :-)
>
>So are you saying that, based on your experience (of many thousands
>of parts handled vs. product problems) that static control measures
>are unnecessary? Or over-hyped? Or both?
>
>I am willing to learn here, but some of this just doesn't make sense.
>Am I to believe that the days' conditions (humidity, etc.) which let
>me "pull" a 1/2 inch spark to the doorknob is of no consequence to my
>electronic parts?!? Because they have intrinsic protection diodes?!?
>
>Gotta be honest here. This one's hard to swallow!
>
>Surely the several thousand volts of static can impact a 50V device.
>Even at the infinitismal current?!?
>
>Is this something you can "back up" with documentation. (not a
>challenge, I just would like to know for myself). I'm a science kind
>of guy. You know, reproducible results, peer review, and all that :-)
>
>Or is this just an observation, based on your own experience? (which
>may include EXCELLENT static practice, without you "consciously"
>doing it) Seen THAT with "experts" ALL the time! (ability to make
>the "correct" decision without "thinking" about it.)
>
>Ballendo