Do you remember seeing the three wise monkey statues, see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil? Did the idea in an odd way seem to make sense to you? While the origin of the proverb, perhaps Buddhist, perhaps Confucian, is a bit shrouded in mystery, our Western idea seems to have taken hold. If you refuse to acknowledge something, then how can it hurt you? The problem with this approach is that it surely sometimes can. In our business, there is an invisible force that lurks throughout a test floor. You can’t see it, you can rarely feel it, but it can absolutely destroy our product. The culprit is called electrostatic discharge, or ESD. It is basically a type of contact electrification that takes place when certain materials come into contact with one another. It runs rampant in dry environments, or when any friction is involved. Most people understand it as static electricity. As a kid, (or perhaps even as a mischievous adult,) the action of rubbing your feet across a rug, then surprising a younger sibling or other unsuspecting prey with an electric touch to the ear lobe, always brought sinister delight. Static electricity is extraordinarily fun for kids, but it absolutely has no place in our company.
At Tekmos, we understand that semiconductors are particularly prone to damage, or even failure, sometime many months after contact with ESD. We have taken extra precautions to prevent ESD buildup, and prevent the possibility of it affecting our customer product needs. As part of our Quality system, we have an entire procedure dedicated to ESD control. Our test floor technicians and test operators wear antistatic lab jackets, heel straps and have daily checks on grounding wrist straps. They undergo ESD training with recertification every 12 months. Product is moved on grounded carts to grounded workstations, which are tested with a Surface Resistivity Meter once a quarter. This is four times the standard requirement even by military standards. We also control and monitor the temperature and humidity on our test floor, understanding that even the environment can be a part of ESD creation. From non-conductive floor wax, to antistatic garments, heel straps and wrist straps, daily and quarterly checks with continual education and testing, we do the extra effort necessary to keep from creating the invisible enemy of ESD, and protect our customer’s product. We at Tekmos have our eyes open when it comes to ESD. We have decided not to be the monkey, sitting with its eyes closed.