ESD Systems - Questions And Answers

For a tote carrier to be considered truly conductive and a Faraday cage so product can come out of an approved ESD area, what criteria should be maintained between body and lid or even the material itself. Most tote carriers are conductive 10⁵ or lower. But I've seen dissipative material at 10⁷. Most tote carrier lids do not form a good conductive seal either. What truly makes a product safe in a tote carrier and is ESD S11.11 the standard testing used for totes? - Duane Oglesby, Planar Advance Inc., Beaverton, OR

Keeping the lid closed on the tote box should be sufficient, as this is not an EMI shielded box, but rather an ESD protective container. Once the lid is removed or opened, the “Faraday Cage” is compromised, assuming the container is conductive. There are no required seals needed except that the lid be mechanically/electrically seated (attached) to the rim of the tote. The biggest worry is having foreign charged or conductive objects entering the container putting the contents at risk.ANSI/EOS/ESD S11.11 can be used to evaluate the surface resistance of planar dissipative and conductive packaging materials according to ESD DS20.20. ESD DS11.12 can be used for volume resistance measurements of dissipative planar packaging materials. ESD DS20.20 in addition references ANSI/EIA-541 for packaging materials soon to be re-written by the ESD Association.

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