Zener diode between Gate and Source in N-ch MOSFET. Enough to touch freely?

[analogo]

I would like to use put a diode between gate and source in my MOSFETs to avoid frying them (see also https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/esd-boxes-dissipative-or-conductive-or-both/).

Putting a Zener diode between G and S looks like a common technique (among many others http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=100760.0#msg888061, https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/187075/mosfet-gate-source-protection-question).

But does this technique also work when the chip is out of circuit? Will it protect my poor MOSFETs when I take them out the box and stick them into the breadboards?

[Cervisia]

ESD destroys a MOSFET by creating too much voltage between gate and source, which permenently breaks down the gate isolation. The diode prevents this, as long as it is there, so it will work even outside of the circuit.

But if the diode is in the circuit, and the MOSFET is not, then it won't be able to repair the damage afterwards.

Quite a few MOSFETs have a separate, built-in Zener between gate and source. See the datasheet.
(If a through-hole MOSFET doesn't have it, you could short its legs together (with aluminum foil, a non-isolated paper clip, etc.) before handling it.)

[T3sl4co1l]

Where would you put the zener?  Soldered across the leads?

I don't think I've ever had problems with ESD on the breadboard.  Just a matter of touching component and board with your fingers, before touching component to board.

Simple riddle.  Each conductive object is a capacitor (the board, your body, the component, etc.).  Your body shorts things together when you touch them. which ones do you need to short together, to ensure the capacitor(s) don't discharge harmfully through a device?

Note that you can hold a component in your hand, and discharge your body with the other hand, and the component feels no ESD (even if your finger did).  Holding a component counts as a Faraday cage, shielding it from ESD.

Tim