Statguard Flooring - Questions And Answers

In the last newsletter it said to use a desiccant pack in the packaging of ESD sensitive and moisture sensitive circuits. What are the static generating properties of desiccant packs? Is it safe to have desiccant in contact with ESDS components? Are there any manufacturers of ESD safe desiccants? -Anonymous

This is a balance issue. You have to decide which is more important to protect from, corrosion or ESD. Typically the desiccant packs don’t tribocharge to any significant levels, but you should evaluate your packs before quantifying this. If a device requires an MVB (moisture vapor barrier) or MBB (moisture barrier bag) to minimize corrositivity to the device due to water vapor then a desiccant pack may be necessary to minimize moisture that is initially trapped in the sealed bag as well as moisture that eventually comes through the bag, even though at a significantly reduced rate. The benefit of an MVB bag is that it also has ESD shielding properties and EMI shielding properties by virtue of it’s thicker metal layer.

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