ESD Systems - Questions And Answers

I have been working in and around ESD sensitive equipment for several years. I have always used a FLUKE meter to test Wrist straps. Until recently, I had the tolerance written in a procedure. I have since lost the procedure and no longer have access to be able to find the tolerance to re-write it. Could you tell me what the resistance tolerance is for standard wrist straps? - Andrew, Westerville, OH

Sure. The ESD Association's (ESDA's) Standard 1.1-1998 states that: for the Acceptance Testing the wrist strap resistance should be 1 megohm +/- 20% (or user defined value) for the Functional Testing the wrist strap system continuity should be The equipment to perform this testing should be able to read from 50 kilohms to at least 100 megohms with a test voltage of 7 to 30 volts DS open circuit. I am not sure that the Fluke meter has a large enough open circuit voltage. Our standard wrist strap tester unit (Combo tester) is factory set for a pass range from 750 kilohms to 10 megohms with a 10% tolerance at the low end and a 15% tolerance at the high end.

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