History & Background The decade of the 90's may be remembered as
the Decade of Quality in the electronics industry. Increased
competition, six-sigma quality, and ISO 9000 have forced a
recommitment to quality even in those companies that might not
have done so willingly. As we examine our environments for
quality improvement areas, electrostatic discharge (ESD) remains
a key target. Static electricity has been an industrial problem
for centuries. As early as the 1400's, European and Caribbean
forts were using static control procedures and devices to
prevent electrostatic discharge ignition of black powder stores.
By the 1860's, paper mills throughout the U.S. employed basic
grounding, flame ionization techniques, and steam drums to
dissipate static electricity from the paper web as it traveled
through the drying process. The age of electronics brought with
it new problems associated with static electricity and
electrostatic discharge. And, as electronic devices became
faster and smaller, their sensitivity to