Questions And Answers

Workbench ESD Laminate Grounding and Testing

We have an ESD Laminate Micastat see Micastat Dissipative Laminate and Grounding Systems.

See TB-2091 the Micastat® Static protective laminate: Installation and maintenance technical bulletin.

See Grounding Methods on pages 4 and 5. Testing is also in the Technical Bulletin, but Compliance Verification per ANSI/ESD S20.20 is to be per ESD TR53. It would be sufficient testing to use a Surface Resistance Test Kit or equivalent. Here’s the worksurface test procedure from ESD TR53:

• “Do not clean the ESD worksurface immediately prior to verification.
• Remove all ESD sensitive items from the ESD worksurface.
• Conductive items and AC-powered equipment having separate paths to the ground reference should remain connected to their grounds at the ESD worksurface being verified.
• Connect one end of the first test lead to the [5#] electrode, and the other end of the first test lead to the integrated checker or meter.
• Connect one end of the second test lead also to the integrated checker or meter, and the other end of the second test lead to ground reference.
• Place the electrode in the center of the ESD worksurface and apply 10 volts.
• Wait for the integrated checker or meter to stabilize.
• If the indicated resistance is less than 1.0 x 10E6 ohms, continue testing
• If the indicated resistance is equal to or greater than 1.0 x 10E6 ohms, switch the integrated checker or meter to 100 volts and retest the ESD worksurface.
• Tests should include those ESD worksurface areas that are subject to wear or are visibly dirty.”

To determine if the workbench is properly grounded, you should make a systems test using one 5 pound electrode and attaching the black sensing lead to equipment ground, for example the ground of a wall AC electrical outlet (or screw or junction box).