uk

engineering
1

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE

MODULE 5.12
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

ELECTROSTATIC SENSITIVE DEVICES

Static electricity is generated and stored on the surface of non-conductive

materials and discharges to the first available ground source. Items such as
human hands, air, and glass store high positive charges, whereas plastics store
large charges of negative electricity.
Table 1 lists typical measured static charges for the human body.
Relative Humidity of Air

SITUATION

Low 10-20%
Volts
35,000

High 65-90%
Volts
1,500

12,000

250

Worker at bench

6,000

100

Vinyl envelopes containing work instructions

7,000

600

Polythene bag picked up from bench

20,000

1,200

Work chair padded with urethane foam

18,000

1,500

Walking across a carpet

Walking over vinyl floor covering

Static Charges
Table 1
1.1 HANDLING OF MICROELECTRONIC DEVICES
The voltage and current requirements for microelectronic devices are of a very
low magnitude. It is therefore necessary to observe strict precautions to avoid
damage or destruction when carrying out functional testing and fault diagnosis.
There are some devices whose circuits can, by the very nature of their
construction, be damaged or destroyed by Static Electricity discharges resulting
simply from the manner in which they are handled.
These device are referred to as Electrostatic-Sensitive Devices (ESD). The
type of devices that are most susceptible to damage by static electricity are listed
in Table 2

uk
engineering

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE
MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

Device
Field effect transistors (MOSFET)
Complementary metal oxide silicon
(CMOS)
Schottky diodes (TTL)
Bipolar transistors
Precision thin-film resistors
Emitter coupled logic (ECL)
Silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCR)

MODULE 5.12
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

Electrostatic discharge range where

damage can occur (V)
100 200
250 2000
300 2500
380 7000
150 1000
500
680 - 1000

ESD Sensitivity Levels

Table 2
1.2 STATIC DAMAGE
If static discharge can be seen or felt, then it may be assumed that the potential
difference prior to discharge can be measured in thousands of volts. As Table 2
shows, this is more than enough to cause damage to an electronic circuit.
Therefore, electrostatic discharge damage can occur even though the discharge
is of insufficient strength to be felt or seen. The low energy source that most
commonly destroys ESDs is the human body which, in conjunction with
nonconductive garments and floor coverings, generates and retains static
electricity.
1.3 PRECAUTIONS
In order to adequately protect electrostatic sensitive devices, the device and
everything that it comes into contact with must be brought to ground potential by
providing conducting surfaces and discharge paths.
In avionic workshops, equipment-containing ESDs is serviced at an electrostaticfree workstation. In general, the workstation consists of a conductive work
surface which, together with the operator and tools in use, is bonded electrically
to a common ground. The floor area in front of the workstation is also covered
with conductive material and bonded to the work surface.
The operator wears a wrist strap, which is electrically bonded to the work surface
through a resistance (1 2 M). Under no circumstances should the operator, or
anyone else, touch the ESDs, or assemblies containing such devices, without first
placing a wrist strap in direct contact with their wrist.

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE

uk
engineering

MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

MODULE 5.12
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

1.4 STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION

Wherever there are ESDs, there will also be the problem of protecting them
during transportation and storage, and so specialised packaging is essential for
individual devices, PCB modules and the complete LRU. The packaging for
devices and PCB modules takes the form of Bags. These bags are made from
a material which is Quasi-conductive (a material whose surface or volume
resistivities are too high to be conductive, but conductive enough to bleed off
charges in no more than a few milliseconds).
Other protective measures involve shorting the connecting leads or pins of
devices by means of wire, spring clips, metal foil or by inserting the leads or pins
into a conductive foam material. For PCB modules having edge connectors,
specially formed strips called Shunts are placed over the connectors to keep
them all at the same potential and also protect them against physical damage.
1.5 ON AIRCRAFT PRECAUTIONS
When replacing Line Replacement Units (LRUs), containing ESDs on aircraft, the
following safety precautions must be observed.
a).

All electrical power from the system should be removed by pulling

the system circuit breaker(s).

b).

If the power is not removed during LRU removal or installation,

transient voltages may cause permanent damage.

c).

After the removal of an LRU from its rack, a conductive shorting

dust cap must be installed on each of its electrical connectors.
Under no circumstances must the electrical pins in the connectors
be touched by hand.

d).

The conductive dust caps from the unit to be installed can be use
on the unit being removed.

e).

The removed unit is then transported with the conductive dust caps
fitted.

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE

uk
engineering

MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

MODULE 5.12
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

Aircraft are often fitted with racks containing removable circuit boards, or cards,
which often contain ESDs.
During the removal and replacement of the cards, the following procedure is to be
followed:
a).

The body of the operator must be grounded by using the wrist strap
provided, connected to the appropriate ground jack.

b).

The card is removed using the top and bottom, or left and right,
extractors on the card. Touching the connectors, leads or edge
connectors of the card must be avoided.

c).

The removed card is placed in the conductive bag, which is then

secured, in accordance with the manufacturers approved
procedure.
Note: Should the bag need to be secured with a tie, cotton twine
should be used, since this is neutral as far as static electricity is
concerned.

d).

The replacement card is then removed from its conductive bag and
installed following the precautions listed above.

1.6 LABELLING
An obviously important requirement is the identification of the packaging
containing ESDs and of any assembly, be it a PCB of an LRU, which contains
ESDs. For this purpose there are special decals. These are affixed to packaging
and assemblies.
In the case where the connector pins of an LRU may be susceptible to a
discharge, an additional decal is often affixed near the connector as a warning to
personnel not to touch the connector pins.
Figure 1 shows the type of ESD symbols and labels in use today.

uk
engineering

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE
MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

COMMERCIAL

GOVERNMENT

CAUTION

MODULE 5.12
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

INTERNATIONAL
(BOEING)

CAUTION

OBSERVE PRECAUTIONS
FOR HANDLING

THIS ASSEMPLY
CONTAINS

ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE
DEVICES

ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE
DEVICES

STATIC
SENSITIVE

STATIC
SENSITIVE

ESD Labels
Figure 1

uk
engineering

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
CONVERSION COURSE
MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

PAGE
INTENTIONALLY
BLANK

MODULE 5.12
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

JAR 66 CATEGORY B1

MODULE 5

uk
engineering

DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

MODULE 5.12
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES