[PLUG] Cleaning electronic equipment - was Is my monitor dying?

[Denis Heidtmann]

On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 7:29 AM, Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com> wrote:

>
> Even more details - when I worked in a semiconductor lab, we
> used a dry nitrogen jet with a metal nozzle, inside of which
> was a largish chunk of radioactive Americium 243. Am243 is an
> alpha emitter which ionizes molecule-thin tracks in the air
> inside the nozzle, and paradoxically removes the static
> (shorts it out).  Good tool.
>


> Keith
>
> I seem to remember that Polonium 210 was the radioactive source used in the
air guns at SITe.  It turned out that some our imaging devices showed up in
customer's hands with hot pixels not present at final test.  One engineer at
SITe traced the hot pixels to Polonium.  (One manager claimed Bolognium.)
 After reading all manner of stuff on the web about Polonium I wonder about
the health of all those clean room personnel.

Both these elements are alpha emitters.  As such, they are prone to
sputtering and creep--they at best walk out of their containment.  For
Polonium it can become air-borne.  I do not know about Americium, but I was
advised by a physicist at Tek that it does make its way out of smoke
detectors.

(Is this Linux-related?)

-Denis