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

> I have practised my craft for over 20 years and I cannot say I ever
> saw a semiconductor damaged due to static discharge. In my opinion it

I don't want to fuel this fire, but I'd back up what Mariss is saying...

We (my part time business) have shipped about 6000 items with CMOS devices
in them over the last four years, all the time I was assuming the assembly
outworker who I employ was using the Anti-static gear I supplied.. I found
out about half way through last year that he sits at a metal framed table in
a spare room with woollen carpet, nothing is earthed, and the bench top is
made of some sort of plexiglass or plastic. The only thing anti-static
about the setup is the tubes the IC's come in, and the solder dip-tank,
which by necessity is earthed as it is basically a high-tech stainless steel
frying pan with a motor driven mechanism on top which dips the boards.

We have had (knock on wood) no failures that I can attribute to static.
Poor design yes, poor assembly yes, poor component choice yes.... But no
"unexplained" failures that are statistically significant. Maybe 100
warranty returns total in the four years we've been making gadgets for model
aircraft...

Cheers, Chris.

* Design engineer, Assembly worker, Cleaner.
* Ohmark Electronics. PO Box 5302, Christchurch, New Zealand.
* http://www.ohmark.co.nz