# Storage/organize IC's



## pcb rookie (Apr 22, 2021)

I have figured storage and organizing all my electronic components except for IC's. Anyone interested in sharing how you store them? Will help me and might also help others! 

Thanks!


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## fig (Apr 22, 2021)

I use anti-stat foam, trays, and large empty cookie tins. 

Walkers....mmmm


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## finebyfine (Apr 22, 2021)

I was able to snag a few of these component storage cabinets on sale and keep ICs on foam in drawers ... I realize having these is essentially cheating for purposes of this question though


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## giovanni (Nov 18, 2021)

Are antistatic foam or bags necessary? I just bought one of those bins too and I have caps and resistors in small antistatic bags, but I ran out of small bags… can I just puy them in the bins without condoms?


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## Betty Wont (Nov 18, 2021)

giovanni said:


> Are antistatic foam or bags necessary? I just bought one of those bins too and I have caps and resistors in small antistatic bags, but I ran out of small bags… can I just puy them in the bins without condoms?


I only keep them for static sensitive components like ICs, especially CMOS. Your passives don't need anti-static.


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## Barry (Nov 18, 2021)

If they come in static tubes I just label the tube and leave them, the rest go into foam and drawers


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## giovanni (Apr 24, 2022)

Reviving this old thread. I read that some people use antistatic bags for transistors as well. I think that may be overkill, what do you guys think?


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## Feral Feline (Apr 24, 2022)

Anti-static bags aren't overkill for MOSFETs.

The amount of static here is really bad, I get shocked every time I close the car door and nearly every time I kiss my wife — I was thinking of starting a thread about how people deal with anti-static measures, I'm sure my simple grounded wrist-band is barely adequate.


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## giovanni (Apr 24, 2022)

What about JFET or BJT? I have these large antistatic bags from mouser that won’t fit in any of my storage solutions and I would love to get rid of them. Or just buy tiny ones if needed. On that note, the pink Tayda bags are probably not antistatic? I have tons of them.


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## Feral Feline (Apr 24, 2022)

I've not had trouble with static for JFET or BJT, *BUT* according to everything I've read they _can be_ susceptible to ESD.






						JUNCTION FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR DEGRADATION CAUSED BY ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE. (Technical Report) | OSTI.GOV
					

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information




					www.osti.gov
				











						Can BJT transistors be damaged by static electricity?
					

I'm wondering whether they should be stored in anti-static bags or not?




					electronics.stackexchange.com
				




I've zapped a few MOSFETs even being careful with my wrist-band. I'm thinking of getting an anti-static floor-mat &/or one for the bench — the static here (Western GWN) is insane compared to how little I had to deal with it in Hong Kong.

PS: I love when reports (like in the first link) post "This Page Intentionally Left Blank" — well once you put that explanation on it, it's not blank. 🤪


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## giovanni (Apr 24, 2022)

Damn I’m gonna have to get some tiny bags then! The static is not that bad here on the east coast but I don’t want to chance it.


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## benny_profane (Apr 24, 2022)

giovanni said:


> On that note, the pink Tayda bags are probably not antistatic? I have tons of them.


Not sure—there are definitely pink anti-static bags, but the tayda bags are different than the ones explicitly labeled as such. Compare them to the bags that stomp box parts uses.


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## finebyfine (Apr 27, 2022)

I started monitoring the humidity in my workspace over the winter and as a result I’ve switched to using the DIP plastic tubes that places like Digikey and Mouser ship in for ICs. I was very surprised by how low humidity it was, and how little I physically felt the difference between normal and more likely to result in static.

Newark, if I recall correctly, had huge lengths of them. I just cut them to fit into my drawers. Everything else but passives go into Tayda style anti-static additive bags. If they’re ICs I try to use the good black ESD foam. In a perfect world they’d go into the ones with shielding but they just aren’t flexible enough to be useful for storage outside of smaller ones for things like FV-1s.


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