Safety Precautions › Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Precautions

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Precautions

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is generated by two objects with different electrical charges coming into contact with each other. An electrical discharge is created to neutralize this difference, which can damage electronic components and printed circuit boards. Devices that are sensitive to ESD, such as serverboards, motherboards, PCIe cards, drives, processors, and memory cards require special handling. Use the following precautions to help neutralize the difference of electrical charges coming into contact with each other, before contact is made, to protect your equipment from ESD:

• Use a rubber mat that has been specifically designed as an electrical insulator. Do not use a mat designed to decrease electrostatic discharge as protection from electrical shock.
• Use a grounded wrist strap designed to prevent static discharge.
• Use antistatic or electrostatic discharge (ESD) preventive clothing or gloves.
• Keep all components and printed circuit boards (PCBs) in their antistatic bags until ready for use.
• Touch a grounded metal object before removing the board from the antistatic bag.
• Do not let components or PCBs come into contact with your clothing, which may retain a charge even if you are wearing a wrist strap.
• Handle a board by its edges only. Do not touch its components, peripheral chips, memory modules, or contacts.
• When handling chips or modules, avoid touching their pins.
• Put the serverboard and peripherals back into their antistatic bags when not in use.
• For grounding purposes, verify your appliance provides excellent conductivity between the power supply, the case, the mounting fasteners, and the serverboard.