Electrostatic discharge (ESD) control in electronics industry

Abstract

This paper is a general assessment on the current issues in the electronics industry involving electrostatic discharge (ESD) control among various electronic devices. ESD has been one of the major concerns in the manufacturing sector of the electronics industry worldwide due to the ever-increasing risks involved in producing more yields. This paper will discuss on the essential role of ESD control in the overall management of product viability to ensure a competitive edge. More particularly, it will focus on the ESD control on the production line of giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads to manage and maintain stringent quality standards. These heads are mainly used as read and write sensor for the hard disk drives of computers. Production of GMR heads has become very susceptible to ESD damage due to its extremely thin size within tens of a nanometer. Current designs of GMR heads require smaller working area to provide larger aerial densities among hard disks memory space in tens and hundreds of gigabytes. The GMR head area has become so thin with its current record at this time of writing reached a dimension less than 0.08 μm thick. Theoretical treatment of ESD damage is limited and more simulation work is needed in the area of managing ESD control along a production line. Besides computational work, management implementation demands strict compliance to production protocols among co-workers. In return, the whole work force of the company would be more aware of the potential ESD damage from the information generated by the simulation work. In summary, it is necessary to monitor production yields and product rejects to effectively manage potential ESD damage that might arise from man, methods, materials, and environment in the manufacturing line.