Static electricity is at the heart of hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of electronic device and component damage. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can cause significant damage when it comes to computer components, destroying or fatally damaging expensive devices.
ESD can permanently erase or alter magnetic media, burn holes in integrated circuits, and destroy circuit boards. In extreme cases, a buildup of static electricity can even cause fires and explosions, if a spark occurs in a combustible atmosphere. Many ESD events, however, occur without a visible spark yet still cause severe electronic destruction.
Hard Drive Data
Hard drive data losses are difficult to quantify, since they depend on the data’s level of importance. Some data is invaluable, such as sentimental media you can never get back. Other data, such as consumer data, can amount to thousands of dollars’ worth of losses to a company. ESD damages may not be noticeable for days, or even weeks, after the discharge event. While data recovery tools can fix some levels of damage, other damage is permanent. Studies report that a company with a computer outage for more than 10 days will never fully recover.
Integrated Circuits
Static electricity damages integrated circuits, or ICs, when people ship ICs improperly or handle them without wearing ESD gloves, wrist straps, and other ESD equipment. The cost to manufacture ICs is expressed in an equation involving dies and wafers, and is not always straightforward. Production costs are typically quite high, rounding in the millions on large-scale chips. When an ESD event occurs with sensitive ICs, the damage is usually too great for repairs.
Circuit Boards
Circuit boards are highly sensitive to ESD. Many people improperly handle circuit boards at home in their personal electronics, without realizing the damage that human contact can cause. Due to the high number of improperly trained people handling circuit boards, the costs of damage is high. Damaged circuit boards are not necessarily expensive to replace, but they can be on larger or higher-value electronic devices.
Microchips
Microchips are especially susceptible to ESD. As a small and highly sensitive electronic component, microchips need ESD protection during and after manufacture, assembly, shipping, and in the finished device. Microchips can be damaged with ESD voltage as little as twice their operating voltage – making the number of damaged microchips enormous. A damaged chip can cause intermittent electronic device failures that become worse over time until the component fails completely.
Electronic Devices
Household electronic devices fall prey to ESD every day. Too much humidity, ungrounded human contact, and doing nothing to prevent static buildup in devices can all cause electronic devices to break down. Many people do not understand the damaging propensity of ESD, and do not take proper care of electronic devices. Turning on an old TV after months of disuse can cause ESD, even resulting in sparks or fire. ESD damage to household electronics causes hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs and replacements.
Need Protection Against Harmful ESD?
To prevent the expensive electronic device and component damage ESD causes, invest in effective static control prevention. Correct Products offers great prices on ESD gear, including ESD Smocks, ESD flooring, ESD table mats, ESD wrist straps, tools, and much more. Our expansive inventory offers a wide range of protection for all your electronic needs. Call (800) 870-1199 to get in touch with us today.