Related content

• Airship
• American National Standards Institute
• Antistatic device
• Antistatic mat
• Automotive Electronics Council
• Brush discharge
• Capacitor
• Coal dust
• Conducting wrist strap
• Conductor (material)
• Corona discharge
• Device under test
• Diatomic
• Dielectric
• Dielectric breakdown
• Dielectric strength
• Dielectric wireless receiver
• Earth's atmosphere
• Electric arc
• Electric discharge
• Electric field
• Electric spark
• Electromagnetic pulse
• Electronics
• Electrons
• Electrostatic discharge
• Electrostatic Discharge Association
• Electrostatic induction
• Electrostatic voltmeter
• Energy
• ESD Simulator
• European Union
• Farad
• Friction
• Hindenburg disaster
• Human body model
• Humidity
• Hydrogen
• Integrated circuit
• International Electrotechnical Commission
• International Standard Book Number
• Ion
• JEDEC
• Latchup
• Lightning
• Methane
• MIL-STD-883
• New Jersey
• Nitrogen
• Nitrogen fixation
• Nitrogen oxide
• NOx
• Ohm (unit)
• Oxygen
• Ozone
• Ozonolysis
• Paschen's law
• Plasma (physics)
• Poland
• Resistor
• Semiconductor
• Silicon
• Silicon dioxide
• Spark gap
• Spark plug
• Special BookSources 0-8493-7188-0
• Special BookSources 0412136716
• Static discharger
• Static electricity
• Styrofoam
• Tesla coil
• Thermite
• Thunderstorm
• Trailing edge
• Triboelectricity
• Volt
• Water purification
• Wikipedia Citation needed
• Wikipedia Citing sources
• Wikipedia INCITE
• Wikipedia Manual of Style Lead section
• Wikipedia Summary style
• Wikipedia When to cite
• Wikipedia WikiProject Fact and Reference Check
• Wimshurst machine

Electrostatic discharge

Electrostatic discharge is a serious issue in solid state electronics, such as integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are made from semiconductor materials such as silicon and insulating materials such as silicon dioxide. Either of these materials can suffer permanent damage when subjected to high voltages; as a result, there are now a number of antistatic devices that help prevent static build up.

One of the causes of ESD events is static electricity. Static electricity is often generated through tribocharging, the separation of electric charges that occurs when two materials are brought into contact and then separated. Examples of tribocharging include walking on a rug, rubbing a plastic comb against dry hair, rubbing a balloon against a sweater, ascending from a fabric car seat, or removing some types of plastic packaging. In all these cases, the friction between two materials results in tribocharging, thus creating a difference of electrical potential that can lead to an ESD event.