Static Electricity

[solidhelix]

How can this be acquired? and why it will damage certain electrical devices especially on computers? because i'am installing hardwares(mobo,vc,etc) on my computers without using anti-static gloves...

I'am really concerned on how it will degrade electrical components...

 

[stevez]

A friend and former co-worker was a specialist in electrostatics. He was one of several company specialists who provided that expertise in the handling and manufacturing of electronic components and assemblies. That's quite the large and important field so plenty of reference material is likely to exist. You might do a google search on electrostatics but don't limit your research to google - technical libraries at colleges and universities are likely to have information.

 

[Dean Huster]

You can buy all of the special gloves, straps, ionizers, mats and geegaws you want for ESD protection, but common sense will always prevail. All the aforementioned items are for manufacturing environments where you hire uninformed people off the street to do the job.

The key is to keep you and everything you work on at the same potential. That's it. As an example, if you're installing a new memory card in your computer, you grab the card by it's bag (that brings you and the bag and the card to the same potential), remove the card from the bag and hold it in one hand (that keeps you and the card at the same potential) and grab the computer frame with the other hand and keep that wrist resting on the frame (that brings you, the card and the computer to the same potential) and then insert the card without fear of ESD. You, the card, the bag and the computer can all be sitting there at 2000 volts above ground, but if everything is at the same potential, there's no ESD.

Dean

 

[Styx]

basically friction is the main source of static build up.
The reason that it really damages IC is because of the voltages that can get generated.

When you take a jumper off and you feel the cracking, that is static at work ( the wool rubbing against each other).

IF you walk on a carpet and then touch summing you feel a "zap" that is static electricity. not all static shock you will feel, but the one's you do are at least 3000V (roughly the minimum static shock humans can feel). The static you can build up could be less it could be more.


Now say you are charged upto 3000V, and you touch some electonics, ZAP straght onto a pin of an IC who take 5V logic, most electronics can handle abt 500V static, but this is dropping fast!!! some are not at 50V.


So you have zapped your electronics is it dead? maybe, maybe not.
Is it damaged YES!!!! in the worst case you have completely burnt out a track on the silicon and damamge the semiconductor, slightly less worst-case is you have damaged some of it but there still an electrical cct there. you have servely aged the par, in some cases such that 3months later it will fail

How to get around it? make sure you discharge yourself before working on something. Equally discharge the work surface and also what you are abt to work on.
Working on my PC I tend to leave it plugged in, but switch off the ATX power, thus leaving the EARTH connected and thus the case is EARTH potential. Using a wrist strap (1Mohm in the lead) connect me up to the case to discharge myself dowto CASE.
Then open up say my new GFX card which should come in a anti-static bag. pull it out and plug it in.


Here is an exaple of the kind of damage that can occur


**broken link removed**

 

[solidhelix]

thx guys, i really appreciate your help