Recently my co. got on the ESD bandwagon, they had some technicians come in and install a ground point on our test bench, and they gave us two sets of ESD mats and grounding straps. I think they are 3M brand. The mats have a round metal snap to attach to the workbench ground. I checked the resistance of one of these new mats with a Fluke DM 77. It was a long time ago, and I don't remember what the reading was exactly from the attaching snap contact to the surface of the mat, but I remember it was many megohms, if not infinite. I thought at first that this cannot function to protect against static charges. But possibly it is supposed to be up in the megohm range? I understand that to be a dead short to ground would be just as bad. There is supposed to be SOME resistance....but how much?
Question on ESD mats....
Mar 04, 2007
1 Replies
geronimo wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
wrist straps? One bench mat,one floor mat?
IIRC,greater than 500K R,less than 5 megR. the 3M mats are measured using specified weights with specified contact area,spaced a specified distance apart.
At TEK,we also had floor mats and had to wear heel straps on our shoes,and every morning had to TEST the wrist and heel straps on a 3M tester.The wrist straps DO wear out,and you need to test them to insure they are good.
And we also wore anti-static lab coats.
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net
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