Electrostatic Discharge

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is the sudden flow of electricity between two objects caused by contact, an electrical short, or dielectric breakdown. ESD can be caused by a buildup of static electricity by tribocharging, or by electrostatic induction.

ESD includes spectacular electric sparks, but also less dramatic forms which may be neither seen nor heard, yet still be large enough to cause damage to sensitive electronic devices. Electric sparks require a field strength above about 4 KV/cm in air, as notably occurs in lightning strikes. Other forms of ESD include corona discharge from sharp electrodes and brush discharge from blunt electrodes.

ESD can cause a range of harmful effects of importance in industry, including methane gas and coal dust explosions, as well as failure of solid state electronics components such as integrated circuits. These can suffer permanent damage when subjected to high voltages. Electronics manufacturers therefore establish electrostatic protective areas free of static, using measures to prevent charging such as avoiding highly charging materials, and measures to remove static such as grounding human workers, providing antistatic devices, and controlling humidity.

ESD simulators may be used to test electronic devices, for example with a human body model or a charged device model.