ESD Tiles Flooring

Hello Experts,

We are planning to install ESD tiles in new plant. So request your guidance on the material specification for proper tiles installation.

Please advise on following Points:

  1. Recommended tile thickness as per ESD S20.20 Std (e.g., 2 mm or 3 mm)
  2. Copper strip thickness
  3. Any other materials or precautions to consider during installation

Appreciate your support as always.

ANSI/ESD S20.20 does not have any of those requirements except resistance measurements. There are many floor specifications that can meet your needs. What kind of floor are you looking for? Is is epoxy, vynil or some other type of floor.

You may want to consult the buyers guide on the ESD Association web site to see some suppliers and contact them.

Thanks a lot for your response. We are looking for the ESD flooring tiles which is having resistance in-between 10^5ohms to 10^8ohms

Often the fitters are normal floor fitters, so often don’t know about ESD requirements! They need to follow all manufacturer’s instructions on laying them, make sure they know that they should be using in-date conductive adhesive, that the floor tiles have to acclimatise in the room they are to be fitted, and that yes ground points are required (I have heard all the excuses!). Once laid make sure that they are cleaned before testing, but only after sufficient time to allow the adhesive to cure fully. We had issues when it was cleaned a few days early!

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Noted ! Thanks a lot.

Greetings of the day to all from India .

As JK Sir mentioned neither of the two Global ESD control standards administered by ESDA speak anything extra other than the resistance and voltage requirements.

My experience and guidelines I have framed for ESD flooring ( in India ) is as under .

  1. Prerequisites on ESD flooring
    a. Decide and look for the right suppliers in accordance with what type of flooring material you
    are looking for .,
    Viz, ( i) Floor runners / tiles / epoxy
    (ii) Conductive range or dissipative range subject ones requirement base on the
    classification/ sensitivity of the components /devices being handled
    b. Ensure that the substrate floor surface all around is ;
    Leveled and Without cracks -pits - cement or concrete lumps -moisture -water clogging
    anywhere-seepage and dust and dirt.
    c. Ensure to have the grounding BUS run all around along the four walls of the entire area at
    around 12" from the basic floor level to enable for connecting the ESD flooring material to the
    grounding BUS at multiple points.
    d. Ensure that the BUS is bonded properly with the Equipment Ground and the resistance check
    shall be in line with ANSI ESD S 20.20. / IEC 61340-5-1 w.r.t ANSI ESD S6.1
    e. Ensure that the entire area is properly ventilated and AC/Fans are available in operation to
    avoid suffocation to the laying staff which may arise due to out gassing of the adhesive / any
    other chemical solvents which may be used during the installation job.
    f. Ensure that the required power connection sockets are available at multiple locations for use
    of V grove cutting machine / Thermo welding machine / grinding machine etc used
    depending upon the floor material installed
    g. Ensure that the Drinking water & wash room facilities are available near the installation area
    to keep the laying staff at ease
  2. Again , Per my experience (in India ),
    a. The ESD / ESC PVC tiles (2 mm in most of the cases ) with 12mm width x 35 micron thick
    copper foil tracks and conductive adhesive and later with thermo welding at the joints all
    along the floor is the best ESD safe flooring solution with consistency in resistance and
    walking voltage unlike with Epoxy and the Indigenous 3 layer or two layer floor runners .
    b. Coming to the Copper foil width and the grid size , it varies from customer to customer or
    supplier to supplier ( for price reduction point of view ) both with inadequate knowledge or
    information.
    c. By virtue of basic structure of the ESD safe tiles it would be homogeneous and thus with
    conductive adhesive being used , 12 mm x 35 micron copper tracks at maximum 2 mt x 2 mt
    or even 3 mt x 3 mt grid is good enough while Forbo suggest even 5 mt x 5 mt grid
    which I have done in few Govt of India Defense sectors two decades before . However,
    irrespective of the grid size that is chosen it is important and advised to connect the floor to
    the Grounding BUS at as much as possible multiple locations .
    d. The welding at the joints between the tiles is advised after V grove cutting and then chopping
    off the upper half round to be leveled with the surface of the tiles. Welding is mandatory to
    avoid the shrinkage between the tiles over a period of time which may lead to gaps and
    seepage during the floor cleaning. Of course regular floor cleaning with water soluble ESD
    surface cleaning concentrate is advised for cleaning of the floor to maintain its ESD
    parameters consistently and usage of normal floor cleaning concentrates shall be avoided
    as they may have adverse effect on the ESD parameters to maintained consistently.
    e. Get the installed floor tested after two weeks from the completion of flooring job as
    immediate testing may give very favorable results and lead to confusions and issues later as
    suggested by Madam Susan. In fact, Forbo tiles guidelines mention what I have stared above
    ( around two weeks setting time) to get the accurate measurements at lowest possible Rh %
    and temperature 23 +/- 3 Degree C per ANSI ESD STM 7.1-2020 the basic floor material and
    in combination with the ESD foot wears used on the respective floor per ANSI ESD STM 97.1
    -2025 & ANSI ESD STM 97.2-2016

I hope my information furnished above may be of some assistance to you and thanks for the opportunity extended to pen down few lines here.

Regards,
Vijay

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