ESD Protection Principles

Electrostatic discharge or ESD is the sudden flow of electricity between two objects that are electrically charged, which is caused by an electrical short, dielectric breakdown, or contact, which can cause harmful effects. It is the reason why ESD protection equipment is used to avoid the damage that might happen especially in clean room Singapore. The ESD protection can be purchased from clean room suppliers. Aside from using in cleanroom, it is also required to use the protection in other facility areas including receiving, inspection, stores and warehouses, assembly, test and inspection, research and development, packaging, field service repair, offices, and laboratories. Below are the principles of controlling ESD inside a clean room environment.

Design in protection

There must be products and assemblies that are designed to be resistant and reasonable one the effect of ESD occurs. It may include the step of providing appropriate input protection on equipment, boards, and assemblies, or using less static sensitive devices. Equipment and products that are susceptible to ESD are usually used by most people who are inside the clean room. Using products and equipment that are designed in protection will prevent from having problems about ESD.

Know the level of control needed

In different types of environment like in clean room, different level of control is also needed. So it is important that the level of control needed in the environment is defined. The level of control will classify the type of products that must be used inside the clean room. If the classification of products or equipment used is not suitable to be used inside a certain environment, it can cause problems or damage whether to the products, the facility, or the clean room personnel. It is the reason why defining the level of control needed is very important.

Know the electrostatic protected areas

The electrostatic protected are or EPA is a defined location where the necessary equipment, materials, and tools are placed. In this area, the static electricity can be controlled to a level that will ensure the lessen damage to ESD susceptible materials. It is an area where sensitive items are handled and it is also where certain ESD control procedures must be implemented. Some of these procedures include electrically connecting all dissipative materials as well as all the conductive materials to a common ground. Bonding is also a basic ESD control procedure that is needed to be implemented.

Lessen the electrostatic charge generation

To minimize the ESD losses, the electrostatic charge generation and accumulation must be reduced. It is because the ESD protection measures in product will be increasingly effective if the projections of ESD sensitivity is correct. The people in the clean room must reduce the charge inside the environment to avoid having discharge. The static charge generating materials must be eliminated as many as possible as well as the high-charging insulators like common plastics, from the work environment. To make this possible, all conductive material must be place at the same electrostatic potential. Doing this step will stop the occurrence of electrostatic discharge.