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What is static electricity?
Static electricity is defined as an electrical charge caused by an imbalance of electrons on the surface of a material. In other words, the charge involved is not flowing and in a sense is still or static. Static electricity is most commonly created by friction and separation. Friction causes heat, which excites the molecular particles of the material. When the two materials are separated, a transfer of electrons from one material to the other can take place. As electrons transfer, the absence or surplus of electrons creates an electrical field known as static electricity.
ESD is the discharge of the static electricity as it finds the quickest route to earth. When an ESD event occurs the heat is extremely hot, although we do not feel it when we are shocked. However, when the charge is released onto an electronic component, the intense heat from the charge can melt or vaporize tiny parts causing the device to fail.
Types of damage
Static damage to components can take the form of Direct or Latent failures. Direct catastrophic failures occur when a component is damaged to the point where it can no longer be used. This is the easiest type of ESD damage to detect.
Latent failures occur when ESD weakens or damages the component to the point where it will still function properly during testing, but over time the defective component will eventually cause the system to fail. This kind of failure is difficult to detect.
How can Lista help
Here at Lista we understand the need for a static safe environment and can offer a complete range of ESD workstations, cabinets, and storage walls. ESD products need to be dissipative and to achieve this we add conductive particles to the powered pigment of our ESD paint. This means that all our ESD colours have a higher black content.
Lista ESD products have been tested and approved according to the IEC 6134 0 (which exceeds EN 100015) international standards. All supplementary products like bench tops, wrist straps, mats, chairs etc comply with this standard as well as general safety standards.
