What is ESD?
By LearnESD.com Team

ESD stands for Electrostatic Discharge.

When two materials come into contact and then separate, static charges are developed. Electrons are transferred from one material to another material in a process called Triboelectric charging. Electrons leave their orbits around the nucleus to neighbouring orbits of another material that has a greater tendency to accept the electrons. A deficit of electrons makes the material positively charged and an excess of electrons makes the other material negatively charged.

An event takes place when the static charges flow from a material with a high electric potential to another material with a lower electric potential.
When an ESDS item (electronic component/device, assemblies or finished product) is one of the materials, it will be damaged through the event.

The polarity of static charge on a material depends on the material position in a Triboelectric Series.
The material will be positively tribocharged when it is positioned higher and negatively tribocharged when it is positioned lower in the Triboelectric Series.

Why knowing is important?

Millions of dollars are spent each year just to combat problems.
As microchips are getting smaller and faster with more complex functional capabilities, they become more susceptible to damage.
Therefore, there is a need to use proper packaging material, workstation, storage material, personnel grounding, flooring to name a few to protect the ESDS items.

ESD does not only cause an organisation to lose money due to poor product quality, it also endangers human's life.
It may cause loss of life or injury when a walking wounded ESDS item in a complex system (e.g. elevator, space craft) fails while in use in the field.

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