[WP 34S] I finally bricked it :-(

[MarkHaysHarris777]

(02-02-2015 08:49 PM)John Galt Wrote:  

(02-02-2015 08:23 PM)MarkHaysHarris777 Wrote:  ESD has killed yet another CMOS circuit/

I seriously doubt it. I've worked with CMOS all my life and never killed a single thing through static discharge, sometime even after repeated and deliberate attempts to do so.

If this HP were that sensitive I would have killed many others through disassembly and repair, in addition to normal usage.

Bernhard's explanation makes a lot more sense.

Its not whether the HP is sensitive to this... its whether CMOS is sensitive to this (ESD). Back in the day of MOS (predated CMOS) in IBM circuits many hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment were lost to ESD before it was fully understood what was happening. The entire field engineering group (of which I was a part) were specially trained in the proper use of static mats, ESD straps, and clothing... there were certain fabrics we were not permitted to wear, and there were many procedures put in place (including the anti-static wrapping used on almost all CMOS boards today) to put an end to the monetary losses resulting from ESD. It worked. I have personally seen many planar boards 'blown' due to a noiseless, invisible 'lightening' strike(s) which literally blows holes (and shorts) the capacitive front-ends to the CMOS junctions. You can read about it here.

Cheers