Corrosion Induced Electrostatic Damage Potential

As electronic components use less material they become more sensitive to voltage and current variations. This increases their operational speed and functionality. Corrosion that was heretofore inconsequential now becomes a major factor in the current electronic components. These problems take on a myriad of new consequences. Of these new problems, the tribo charging and consequent discharging of differential surfaces can be significant. Failures from melted circuits failing testing or later in the field (latent defects), or noise generation created by microwave discharges occur. This noise can cause digital service interruption by creating catastrophic bit rate errors. This paper shows these ESD events can take place on matched metal surfaces within 5 to 30 minutes following etching.