On Wed, 13 Jan 1999, Stefan Sczekalla-Waldschmidt wrote:

> Hi,
>
> another thing, which helps avoiding problems wit ESD is to
> make the ambient more "wet". If the humidity is increased -
> if affordable - Not so high potentails  will be achived due
> to a kind of permanent discarge.
>
> Sometimes a higher humidity is also better for health :-)
>
> How about "specifying" a certain humidity for operating the equipment
> ;-)

Actually some electronic fabrication rooms (clean rooms) DO have this
requirement and they also specify ion content in the air. The ions are
provided by air ionizers and help to drain surface charge even from
insulated objects (plastic etc). MOS testing/assembly workplaces can be
specified likewise imho.

Peter