Desco - Questions And Answers

What is the relationship between the electrostatic potential of a product and the resistivity of the packaging material? - Anonymous, Malaysia

None. An electrostatic potential is just the electric field strength of a surface, meaning it has been charged up to some level. If that surface is conductive, once it touches another conductor whether grounded or not, it will transfer some charges to bring both materials into equilibrium. If this other conductor is grounded, that equilibrium will be at zero potential (relative to ground). If you meant the ESD susceptibility as in the HBM or CDM classifications, than the devices susceptibility will dictate the level of protection needed. In general, very conductive packaging is not recommended for any level because of the increased risk for ESD events. Dissipative packaging is highly recommended. The packing can have a conductive layer (such as aluminum) to help shield the contents from an ESD event but should be dissipative to slowly remove charges from its surface when grounded as well as low charging so not to charge the protected device inside.

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