Electrostatic Discharge - Agilent Technologies 85032F User's And Service Manual

Use, Maintenance, and Care of the Devices

Electrostatic Discharge

Electrostatic Discharge
Protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD) is essential while connecting, inspecting,
or cleaning connectors attached to a static-sensitive circuit (such as those found in test
sets).
Static electricity can build up on your body and can easily damage sensitive internal
circuit elements when discharged. Static discharges too small to be felt can cause
permanent damage. Devices such as calibration components and devices under test
(DUTs), can also carry an electrostatic charge. To prevent damage to the test set,
components and devices:
• always wear a grounded wrist strap having a 1 MΩ resistor in series with it when
handling components and devices or when making connections to the test set.
• always have a grounded antistatic mat in front of your test equipment.
• always wear a heel strap when working in an area with a conductive floor.
• always ground yourself before you clean, inspect, or make a connection to a
static-sensitive device or test port. You can, for example, grasp the grounded outer shell
of the test port or cable connector briefly.
• always ground the center conductor of a test cable before making a connection to the
analyzer test port or other static-sensitive device. This can be done as follows:
1. Connect a short (from your calibration kit) to one end of the cable to short the center
conductor to the outer conductor.
2. While wearing a grounded wrist strap, grasp the outer shell of the cable connector.
3. Connect the other end of the cable to the test port.
4. Remove the short from the cable.
Refer to Chapter 6, "Replaceable Parts," for ordering ESD protection supplies.
Figure 3-1 ESD Protection Using Mat, Wrist Strap, and Grounded Power Cord
3-2 85032F