ESD Control

A careful review of empirical research, multiple ESD standards, and return on investment provides a strong case for evaluating the installation of ESD flooring in server rooms and data centers.

There is often confusion about the interaction between IC-level component ESD protection and the appropriately required system-level ESD protection strategy.

Secure facility designs often comingle ICS/ICD-705 and NSA 94-106 performance requirements creating project confusion with significant design and cost implications. This article focuses on bringing some clarity to the differences between ICS/ICD-705 design guidance and NSA 94-106 performance requirements. The related secure facility design and construction process is also reviewed.

This is the second of a two-part series on transmission line pulse (TLP) testing.

If you really want to know whether your footwear and flooring are working together, measure the resistance from the wearer via footwear and flooring to earth (ground).

Heat flow analysis for semiconductor ESD situations can be approximated to one dimension, and then captured with a generalized Ohm’s Law using a complex impedance. Methods can include time-dependent electrothermal pulses and feedback due to self-heating, with solutions readily carried out on any desktop computer.

High reliability organizations (HROs) typically implement stringent static control programs to mitigate the risks of catastrophic and/or life-threatening failures. This article describes some of the considerations to consider for static control flooring in these more demanding environments.

A fully functional ESD floor prevents static generation and provides an effective path to ground for personnel and equipment. Many conductive and dissipative floors meet STM 7.1 resistance parameters in ANSI/ESD S20.20 but fail to provide adequate electrical contact for grounding equipment with conductive casters and drag chains.

Secure facility designs often comingle ICS/ICD-705 and NSA 94-106 design requirements, creating project confusion with significant design and cost implications. This article focuses on bringing some clarity to the differences between ICS/ICD-705 design guidance and NSA 94-106 performance requirements. The related secure facility design and construction process is also reviewed.

Our knowledge of ESD and how to control it has grown significantly over the past 50 years. This article maps the history of that journey.