ESD – Electrostatic Discharge

The release of static electricity when two different charged objects come into contact with each other.

ESD occurs when two different materials rub together, resulting in a mix between positive charge and negative charge.

The heat from the ESD event is extremely hot and when this is released into a sensitive electronic device, the intense heat from can cause the device to fail. ESD can cause failure to solid state electronics components such as integrated circuits. These can suffer permanent damage when subjected to high voltages.

Electronics manufacturers therefore must have protective areas (clean rooms) free of static, using measures such as avoiding highly charging materials and measures to remove static such as grounding human workers, providing antistatic devices, and controlling humidity.