For any industry, it may be difficult to determine exactly the costs related to electrostatic discharge (ESD), or how much the impact of electrostatic discharge problems on the brand image of products. However, ESD is an important problem concerning the reliability of electronic circuits. Many articles on the Internet believe that one third to half of all on-site failures are related to ESD, and some reports believe that ESD causes millions of euros of losses to some industries every year. As new technology leads to smaller circuits and smaller components, ESD failure has become a more worrying problem. If you are producing high-quality products, the warranty cost and recovery cost are very high. Therefore, it is important to check whether your components are packed in anti-static packaging.

When dealing with electronic components, many manufacturers take various protective measures: protective clothing, ESD protective bowls and belts, special carpets, shoes, etc. But. Before the components are placed on the PCB, it is not obvious how the components are handled and transported until they are lifted by the mounter. At this time, some components may have been damaged, but the mounter does not know, so the final product is defective. Worse, the product was returned for repair due to defects (shortened life) during use.

In a non-conductive package, when the component moves (shakes) in the packaging tape, the charge on the component will be more than that when the component is stationary. The risk of electrostatic discharge caused by the components in the large pocket of the tape is more serious than that of the components in the small pocket. For example, the long strip components are easy to slide back and forth. Using conductive (ESD safe) materials can solve many problems, but you must consider all the items used to package components.

Conductive carriers are usually made into rolled tape to protect electrostatic sensitive microelectronic devices. Users of components often do not know which kind of cover should be used to prevent static electricity and protect components. This is also true for long pieces. At this time, the tube containing the element may be safe for ESD, but the tube cover is not. Most people think that as long as the ESD safe carrier is used for the components, the electrostatic potential of the insulating cover tape of the tape may exceed 10000 volts.

The use of non-conductive cover tape may generate a high potential electrostatic field. As long as the terminals of the components remain in contact with the conductive carriers, there will be no charge on the microelectronic devices. However, at the moment when the terminal of the device no longer contacts the conductive carrier, the device is immediately affected by the electrostatic field. A sudden discharge may occur at the moment when the device contacts the carrier again. All this happened in the process of transporting T and handling the material belt. Before the tape is loaded into the mounter. Even when the tape is unfolded on the placement machine (Fig. I), the rotation and gravity of the tape will cause the components to move randomly in their chambers (pockets)

When the cover strip surface is separated from the material strip, a very high peak voltage will also appear, which will not only damage the components, but also may suck the components onto the cover strip of the material strip. As a result of this phenomenon, the component will “stick” to the cover strip, and the placement machine cannot pick up the component. On the placement machine, you will see that the pick up rate of the machine decreases. The faster the cover strip peels off the tape, the higher the peak voltage, the greater the charging opportunity of the component, and the component may discharge at any position. Therefore, when you are very worried about the pick up rate, the electrostatic discharge problem should be given priority

As many people know, components fall out of their pockets (chambers), rotate and turn in the pockets, and wither on the cover belt. These are visible phenomena. Reduce these phenomena (use hardware to solve this problem), and components will be correctly left in the pocket and reliably loaded on the board – improving the pick up rate. However, it is not enough to prevent the adverse effects of components exposed to electrostatic fields.

In order to prevent the components from being exposed to static electric field, it is necessary to ensure that all handling complies with ESD protection guidelines, especially when handling electronic products whose safety is critical. If you cannot ensure that the components are in ESD safe packaging, your product may be defective before leaving the factory.