JAR 66 CATEGORY B1 MODULE 5.

12
CONVERSION COURSE

uk MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

engineering ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

1 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% High 65-90%
Volts Volts
Walking across a carpet 35,000 1,500
Walking over vinyl floor covering 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

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
 JAR 66 CATEGORY B1 MODULE 5.12
CONVERSION COURSE

uk MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

engineering ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

Electrostatic discharge range where

Device damage can occur (V)
Field effect transistors (MOSFET) 100 – 200
Complementary metal oxide silicon
(CMOS) 250 – 2000
Schottky diodes (TTL) 300 – 2500
Bipolar transistors 380 – 7000
Precision thin-film resistors 150 – 1000
Emitter coupled logic (ECL) 500
Silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCR) 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 electrostatic-

free 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 MODULE 5.12
CONVERSION COURSE

uk MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

engineering ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

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 MODULE 5.12
CONVERSION COURSE

uk MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

engineering ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

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 manufacturer’s 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.
 JAR 66 CATEGORY B1 MODULE 5.12
CONVERSION COURSE

uk MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

engineering ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

COMMERCIAL
GOVERNMENT INTERNATIONAL
(BOEING)

CAUTION CAUTION
OBSERVE PRECAUTIONS THIS ASSEMPLY
FOR HANDLING CONTAINS
ELECTROSTATIC ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE SENSITIVE
DEVICES DEVICES

STATIC STATIC
SENSITIVE SENSITIVE

ESD Labels
Figure 1
 JAR 66 CATEGORY B1 MODULE 5.12
CONVERSION COURSE

uk MODULE 5
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVE DEVICES

engineering ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

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 JAR 66 CATEGORY B1
MODULE 5.12
MODULE 5
ELECTROSTATIC
DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
uk
SENSITIVE DEVICES
ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

engineering