Protektive Pak - Questions And Answers

What is the advantages and disadvantages of conductive flooring versus the dissipative flooring in a contract manufacturing facilities? –Anonymous, Solectron Technology, Prai, Malaysia

Flooring comes in a wide range of specified electrical resistance. For applications where ESD control is needed for semiconductor/electronics manufacturing/assembling, there are a few standards to look at.The ANSI/ESD S20.20-1999 recommends that the floor be less than 1x10⁹ ohms and references ANSI/ESD S7.1. It also recommends that the combined flooring and footwear resistance be less than 35x10⁶ ohms referencing standard ESD STM 97.1. In general, we recommend flooring from 1x10⁴ - 1x10⁹ ohms, all in the dissipative range. The drawbacks of a conductive flooring ( < 1x10⁴ ohms) are: one - safety (if direct contact to floor with a live wire may endanger the operator under high voltage and two - possible rapid discharge, if a charged device or person came in direct contact with a very conductive surface (floor) an ESD event could occur.

Related Categories: