NovemberDecember 2005

THRESHOLD The ESD Association newslet- ter, for everyone with an interest in the understanding and control of electrostatic discharge. ™ News bits Volume 21, No. 5 November/December 2005 Celebrating Achievement Continued on page 2 There are always individuals who, in their achievements, go above and beyond the call of duty. The ESD Association annu- ally recognizes those individuals who have made a lasting impact on the Association or industry. Portions of the award presentations, which took place at the EOS/ESD Sympo- sium in Anaheim, California this past Sep- tember, are included here to share the achievements of this year's award win- ners. Stanley Weitz-Industry Pioneer Award Comments and presentation by Stephen Halperin The Industry Pioneer Award is pre- sented to individuals who have made major contributions in the development of EOS/ESD theory, products, standards or other related fields of interest. The re- cipient of the Industry Pioneer Award does not have to be a member of the ESD As- sociation. The Industry Pioneer Award is presented at the Association's Annual General Meeting. This year's Industry Pioneer Award hon- ors Stanley Weitz, President of Electrotech Systems. Stan is being recognized as an industry pioneer for his support of stan- dards and apparatus development. Stanley Weitz earned his BSEE from Purdue University in 1961, and conducted graduate work at the University of Penn- sylvania and Penn State University. He has worked for the US Navy in Advanced Air- borne Antisubmarine development, and industry in the evolution of Automotive Di- agnostic Systems. In 1976, Stan purchased Electrotech Systems which manufactured an electro- static voltmeter and an early version of an electrostatic decay system based on their voltmeter. As the US Navy became con- cerned about ESD losses in the 1970's, the electronics industry became more in- Download call for papers The 2006 EOS/ESD Symposium call for papers is available in PDF format from the ESDA website at www.esda.org . See page 4 o f this issue for more information. ESDA Research Grant for 2005-2006 Earlier this year the ESD Association an- nounced a research grant competition with the intent to fund promising ESD research . See page 6 of this issue for more information. ESD On Campus Program The "ESD on Campus" program is a new educational outreach effort to provide tech- nical lectures on electrostatic discharge (ESD) to undergraduate students, gradu- ate students, and faculty . See page 9 of this issue for more information. terested in electrostatic instruments and test methods. Consequently, the demand for material testing, ESD knowledge, stan- dards and equipment began to grow. Dur- ing this period, Stan worked with Mr. Irv Custis who was the government's prime mover on the development of material evaluation using Static Decay test meth- ods, which eventually became FTS, Method 4046, and a required test for military pack- aging materials. Until Stan's involvement, Static Decay testing could only be per- formed using a variety of separate com- ponents assembled locally by the opera- tor, or laboratory. As the test methodology evolved, Stan refined the only commercially available system to simplify application of the test method, and through his company made the test apparatus available to those who needed it. As the Electronics Industries Associations Packaging committee Task Force ex- panded the use of resistance measure- ment for material classification, Stan pro- vided the reference fixture for round robin testing of their newAppendix H procedure. While several modifications were made to the procedure, over the years it evolved In this issue Symposium awards ................. 1 Standards update ..................... 2 From the President .................. 3 ESDA elections ........................ 3 2006 Call for papers ................. 4 Workshop Wrap-up .................. 5 Annual Report ........................... 5 ESDA Research Grant ............. 6 Symposium Review ................. 8 ESD On Campus Program ...... 9 February meeting schedule .... 10 Volunteer Spotlight .................. 10 And the survey says ................ 11 Calendar ................................. 12 Steve Halperin (right) presents the Industry Pioneer Award to Stan Weitz, accompanied by his wife, Joyce (left)