KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Keysight: How to prevent ESD damage

Posted: 29 Nov 2020 06:37 AM PST
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


Here are some tips from Keysight on how to prevent ESD from damaging your
electronics

USE A GROUNDED WRIST STRAP whenever you are handling equipment or boards.
This prevents your body from building charge. Damage can occur if this
built-up charge discharges into your equipment or test boards.
USE GROUNDED WORK SURFACES OR MATS for your boards. Do NOT use static
generating or insulating materials as a work surface. Non-grounded mats and
static generating/insulated materials can inductively charge boards,
especially exposed ones. When connecting a charged board to equipment, the
board can cause damage by discharging into the equipment’s inputs.
KEEP CHARGED MATERIALS AT LEAST 0.3 METERS FROM EXPOSED ASSEMBLIES. This
includes plastics, foam, or other materials that can build up charge.
Having a charged material near an exposed assembly can inductively charge
the assembly. The assembly can then discharge into the equipment’s inputs.
DISCHARGE YOUR CABLES BEFORE CONNECTING THEM TO YOUR EQUIPMENT. Cable
discharge process:

Ensure your device is off.
Connect your cable to your device.
Attach a 50 Ω shunt to the open end of the cable.
Remove the shunt and immediately attach your device to your equipment. This
prevents the center conductor of your cable from discharging stored charge
into your equipment. A charged assembly can charge connected cables.


USE BOARD STANDOFFS AS NEEDED. In some situations, you need board standoffs
to provide extra insulation for your exposed assemblies. This prevents your
grounded mats from making unwanted connections on your board.
NEVER USE “PINK� PACKING MATERIAL FOR BOARD TRANSPORT OR AS A WORK SURFACE.
While many people think pink packing material is ESD safe, in most cases it
easily builds up unwanted charge. Unless continuous, thorough testing is
done, treat pink packing materials as charged.
CAP UNUSED EQUIPMENT INPUTS to avoid accidental ESD and physical damage.
Damage often occurs by accidentally contacting equipment inputs. Capping
unused inputs protects them from incidental ESD damage.
USE ESD-SAFE BAGS WHEN TRANSPORTING BOARDS. This protects boards from ESD
damage while moving between ESD-safe locations.
DO NOT OVERDRIVE EQUIPMENT INPUTS. Start your testing at the least
sensitive input setting and zoom in on your signal. Additionally, observe
the maximum input levels for your specific equipment. The least sensitive
setting is the most resilient, so starting there ensures that your inputs
are at safe operating levels


I like to think that I follow ESD-safe procedures, but there are a couple
of things here that I hadnt thought about before. For example, Id never
really thought about discharging test equipment cables before connecting
them. I think thats a good tip

To learn more, go to https://www.keysight.com/find/PreventESD

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