Static Electricity Misconceptions: Fake vs. Real ESD Wrist Straps & Proper Grounding Deep-Dive

This video aims to educate on electrostatic discharge, ESD related to computer components, types of ESD failure, and some common misconceptions of how to use ESD wrist straps.

As stated in the video, we're being upfront about making static control products (but you all know this by now). This means we're very informed and have done a ton of research on static control, but we're obviously not as neutral as we are in a product review.

One of the biggest topics we've researched over the last few years has been materials used in anti-static mats, soldering mats, and ESD wrist straps, alongside the pros and cons of dissipative vinyl, conductive rubber compounds, and insulators. We take our product manufacturing very seriously to not just be a logo sticker factory, and that means a lot of research. We decided to finally compile a lot of our research into one video to answer some common misconceptions on ESD and static discharge, talk about the reality of unlikely component damage from ESD (but the types of damage -- like upset, latent, and catastrophic), and address some fake anti-static products on the market. There's a ton more to talk about in this topic, but we had to cut it off somewhere. This goes over ANSI / ESDA spec and standardized testing methods used by the industry.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - ESD Education
01:23 - Keeping It Real: We're Not A Neutral Party
03:30 - Home vs. Factory Use of Dust & Static Control
06:08 - Defining Static Electricity
06:52 - Types of ESD Failure: Upset Failure
07:53 - Catastrophic Failure
08:15 - Latent ESD Failure
10:11 - How an ESD Wrist Strap Works & Is Made
12:37 - Scams & "Wireless" Anti-Static Straps
15:03 - Common Ground Points Are Overlooked
17:33 - Conductive, Dissipative, & Insulative Surfaces
19:30 - Mat Materials, Layers, & Construction
21:10 - Active Operation & Test Benches
21:52 - Rubber Compound Conductive Pros & Cons (& Solder Mats)
23:28 - Vinyl Dissipative Mat Pros & Cons
25:59 - Awesome Factory Footage & Fighting Dust & ESD
29:50 - And Now for Reddit
31:10 - When You Actually Need Anti-Static Tools
34:00 - Cold & Dry Environments

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Host, Writing, Test Lead: Steve Burke
Research, Writing, Testing: Patrick Stone
Video: Andrew Coleman & Keegan Gallick

[Zosu]

Hey, maybe those wireless bracelets discharge static into the 5th dimension like where the glass paneled fans draw their air from.

[Heroedon]

3:04 Shows intense carving into dense material with an x-acto knife,
the very next frame shows a band aid on a middle finger, lol.

[patriotxpants]

I worked at a battery maker for govt and medical systems and one of their safety videos was someone who built up static while handling a combustible material and a fairly large explosion happened in a dry room. Very frightening to see.

[theconsummatenerd]

I actually did have a catastrophic discharge once. Many years ago (while wearing socks on a carpeted floor) I reached out to point at my new Voodoo2 card to show a friend. A small lightning sized spark arced from my finger, killed the card, and the Sound Blaster card next to it. It was that day that I began my research into grounding. I was nodding along during this whole video.

[crisco]

When I finally finished building my first PC I went to push the power button on top of the case and some ESD from my finger to the case caused the PC to turn on without hitting the switch and my heart definitely skipped a beat or two. Luckily everything is still running well a few years on now.

[ericpenrose]

Electroboom did a more comprehensive video on wireless anti-static bracelets a while back. He came up with some ideas based on the fact that sharp metal points actually do dissipate static into the air. He went to a BDSM shop to get some spiked collars and bracelets, which made metal-on-skin contact and came to sharp points.

They also didn't work because they didn't dissipate static nearly fast enough.

[masMusik]

As a former ESD coordinator im impressed. This is a very good video about ESD.
Regarding when the damage is most likely to occur it is true that it is when handling SMT components like a CPU on their own.
It might be interesting to know that many of the individual leads on a IC do have protection inside in form of diodes. These can only protect so much though.
The further you go in the assembly the less risk there is and in the end fully assembled products also have filters on every input (like USB on your phone) to ensure they can survive a direct disscharge. Beneath a certain level of voltage of course.
Also for those stating ESD is "fake" i can guarantee you that this industry that is under heavy economical pressure (especially in the west) would drop ESD in a heartbeat if it was meaningless. ESD protection is very expensive for the industry.

[PhilipKlippenstein]

Something that seems to be continually missed (though Patrick Stone seemed close to getting it when he said "touching the case reliably grounds you if it's plugged in") is that ESD between two things doesn't only happen between two things that aren't grounded, it happens between two things at different electrical potentials. So for starters if your computer is at the same potential as ground it doesn't matter that it's not plugged in, it'll get you to the same potential as ground anyway (unless sufficient change builds up to bring the computer away from the same potential as ground). On the other hand if the computer is at a different potential than ground and you ground yourself, now you're at a different potential than the computer you're working on and there can be an ESD between you and the computer you're working on. If instead you had connected yourself to the case of the computer you're working on you would be at the same potential, as that computer, and ESD wouldn't be possible.

tldr; unless what you're working on is also grounded, don't ground the wrist strap. Instead connect it the common of what you're working on.

[TheKazragore]

GN not competing with NASA in componentry testing is very courteous of them to NASA, not wanting to show them up.

[brownph]

It can't be said enough. GN's commitment to quality journalism and education, as evidenced by transparent disclosures and such, really keeps GN head & shoulder's above the rest in the tech space.

[JarrodsTech]

Me building PCs on the carpet while wearing socks: *interesting* 🤔

[GeneralLeeIrritable]

Humidity definitely makes a big difference. That is why I always work on my electronics under a sprinkler.

[louskunt]

You're mistaken, Steve. Wireless ESD straps send static to the shadow realm.

[todayonthebench]

An honestly good video on the topic. I can see this as somewhat "mandatory" viewing for electronics factories to be fair.
Though, it lacks the most important part! It doesn't matter how well grounded the operator is, the component being worked on can have accumulated charge on its own! And this is also something one has to keep in mind.

The resistor in the ESD bracelet isn't doing anything against the surface charge of the operator nor the component. The charge wants to even out between the two surfaces when a connection between them is made. And this is why ESD gloves is also a thing, since ESD gloves increases the resistance of that path. (in a pinch, a 1 Mohm leaded resistor will do as a poker to discharge any differences in a somewhat safer manner, just aim for the ground on the component.)

Where I work we have dissipative work sources, ESD bracelets, humidity control, ESD rated floors, wear ESD rated shoes.
Casual things like component storage boxes is also made with ESD safe plastics. (somewhat conductive, also absorbs a good 20-25 dbc of broad band RF, just put the RF project under a ESD safe box and one has the poor man's anechoic RF chamber. With likely abhorrent reflections from the flat walls...)

ESD is indeed a worry, especially the latent type.

Increasing humidity is a fairly effective method of reducing electrostatic buildup, but it has a huge disadvantage, especially as far as board assembly is concerned.

A lot of components are moisture sensitive, but not in the way most people might think. But rather that high air humidity leads to moisture buildup in plastic encapsulated packages, something most components have... When one then puts the cards through the soldering oven, the trapped moisture starts boiling and expands within the package, fracturing the bonding wires and resulting in broken chips, or worst case, chips that works fine when one test them, but 3 weeks/months in the field and they suddenly fall dead...

This means that most PCB assembly lines can't crank up the humidity all that high. Though, moisture ingress is proportional to the exposure time at that humidity level, so if one is fast, one can have a higher humidity. But generally speaking, PCB assembly will have lower humidity than other manufacturing lines. And this means that one of the more simple and effective ESD protections is largely not an option.

But for assembly of a PC, this type of humidity related problem is a non issue since consumers aren't expected to reflow their cards in the oven. So crank up the humidity to 80-90% if you like.

[tipturkey]

"he's not fighting static, he's fighting cancer!"

- Lyle

[paxdriver]

Excellent work as always guys. Just wanted to make a ever-so-slight correction: Right at the end you say "water is conductive, thus moisture makes the air more conductive" but it's the impurities of water, such as those on surfaces, that makes water conductive. Water isn't iteself conductive but becomes very conductive practically speaking when it forms a monolayer on other materials.

Only mentioning it because this is an informational/educational piece :P

Most people watching probably like to learn stuff and most people who learn stuff apply their knowledge elsewhere so that's why I think it's important to nit-pick - definitely not saying so just to troll. I would hate to hear of people humidifying rooms as a form of upgrade to their wireless static wristbands lol

Very very well done, thanks for the hard work GN

[gmodib]

Something I really appreciate from GN, as a media outlet, is disclosing the fact that they are not neutral in this matter. It makes sense to begin with, but its something that I dont usually see in most media, and I think thats just an amazing disclosure to your audience! keep up the great work Steve and Crew!

[Atlessa]

I used to work at an electronics company, and we had wireless ESD bands. However they weren't wristbands, they were ankle bands and one part of them looped around the sole of the shoe, thus putting your skin into (electrical) contact with the factory floor. In fact, to enter the factory at all you had to push a button while standing on a metal plate, and the door would only open if the resistance between the button and the metal plate was in a certain range (too high and you were an ESD hazard, too low and there was shock hazard since SOME areas worked with live voltages upwards of 200V).

And as a matter of fact, my work boots (from previous employment) would actually pass the door test even without those ankle bands, so I only had to wear one for 'peace of mind' of the higher ups. (usually you'd wear one on each foot)
I still put on those boots every time I open up my PC, just for my own peace of mind. :D

[BarntCrust]

I was waiting for you to cover humidity this whole video, and you didn't disappoint! I work in a small server room in the Mojave Desert. We have two (redundant) huge air conditioning units. I was not surprised that the room has dust and temperature control when I started working in that environment. But I was surprised to learn that the ac units have humidifiers/sensors/alarms. I am a one of those viewers watching this video that "does live in one of those situations."

[SH-Accountant]

16:12 I thought that was Slim Shady for a minute, then I realised it's 2009 Linus