Desco Europe ESD - Questions And Answers

When antistatic bags are not available in the field and it is necessary to transport a hard drive or computer board, can the component be wrapped in aluminum foil to protect it from ESD? –Frank Saultz, Advanced Office Systems Inc., Deltona, Florida

I would not recommend using bare Aluminum foil for ESD protection of ESD Sensitive electronics boards. Depending on how the foil was folded, you may adequately shield the contents from outside ESD events, but if the foil is folded so the outside is also part of the inside, then this would cause a direct induction problem. Another concern would be direct metal contact with the metal legs/pins/connections/foil on the or populated in the electronics board. If there were isolated metal pads on the board that were charged, they could easily be discharged by direct contact with the Aluminum foil.

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