|
Come on, you lot, surely there are some physicists out there?
As an Ion Implant engineer for 11 years I've seen lots of nice things
that happen with high voltage, corona effects and all, but as to
personal static charges it's your SHOES you have to watch.
I remember when I worked at Motorola we had these tall plastic-seated
chairs in the final ops area where the Big Varian implanter was, and if
you rubbed your backside on the seat while wearing cleangear you could
charge yourself up pretty well and Zap people as they walked past. If
you got off the chair however, it depended entirely on what shoes you
were wearing as to how well you retained the charge. I had a cracking
pair of El-cheapo trainers with rubber soles which let you retain your
charge, and also a pair of Hi-Tec trainers with plastic/rubber/nylon
soles which didn't.
I've also noticed the difference when walking through metal doors with
these nylon mats on either side; the right shoes were OK, no belt from
the door handle, but the wrong shoes, Wow! We had a particularly bad
set of doors at Applied Materials in Horsham and there was only one
pair of shoes I could wear in the factory, otherwise I suffered every
time.
So, let the cynics argue about this one, but I'm sure you'll find your
shoes have a lot to do with you getting zapped from your car.....just
try it and see.
Les Cowan, South Queensferry Fab.
|
|
Ha! - another ex-Motorolan. We have about 15 or so at SQF, you would
probably know them at least by sight, since most of us were there 1979
onwards. I'm a '79-'85 er myself, good to read of a fellow Big-Emmer!
Re the last reply, remember Helen Rodgers in backlap? She used to be
particularly susceptible to my pointy finger after rubbing the
cleangear in the chair - wow, what a zap she used to get! I've seen the
days when we used to chase her around the big Varian pointing our
fingers......Ah, the good old days!
All the best,
Les
|