Magnetic fields have no effect on EEPROMs. These are programmed by electric charge (hence their name). I don't know about your Hall sensors, but mine used >1T fields at very low temperatures... very high fields compared to any thing that might cause a pacemaker to jump a beat. Remember Maxwell's rules: dB/dt = divJ, etc. (or something like that from years ago), which means that those magnets better be moving pretty fast and close to get a charge to hop. Those SMART cards hold up pretty well in airports too. Let your personnel have fun with their toys, and leave the superstitions to them and not the EEPROMs. Carey -----Original Message----- From: Ryan Grant <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Date: Sunday, January 16, 2000 4:06 PM Subject: [TN] Affect of magnetism on IC's >Hi everyone, > > Our training department asked me if it would be O.K. to allow >magnets out on the production floor. They were once told they could not use >magnetic screw drivers. Now people are wearing those hokey magnetic >bracelets, and magnetic soled shoes for their physical ailments. I hate to >tell someone they can't wear their lucky charms, but the precedence has >already been made not to allow magnets on the production floor. > > I can't think of any reason why weak magnets would be detrimental to >anything. We regularly use Hall sensors and every DC circuit is magnetized >when powered. My main concern might be deprogramming an EEPROM, but even >then I'm skeptical. > > Am I missing something? > >Any comment is appreciated. > >Ryan > >############################################################## >TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c >############################################################## >To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in >the body: >To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> >To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET >############################################################## >Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional >information. >If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or >847-509-9700 ext.5365 >############################################################## > ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5365 ##############################################################