Moisture in Microelectronics: Physics and Chemistry of Volatile Species in Hermetic Electronic Devices

The U.S. military has been greatly concerned over the issue of hermeticity of microelectronic devices that were to be manufactured to rigid criteria for use in high-reliability systems. The final definition settled upon by the military and accepted by the analytical community was based on two requirements: To be hermetic, a device must: 1) Pass fine leak testing with a helium leak rate of no greater than 5 x 10 -8 std. cc atm. He/second, and then pass gross leak (bubble) testing, per Test Method 1014. 2) Contain less than 5,000 parts per million by volume (ppm(v)) of moisture when tested at 100oC per Test Method 1018. The author explores the main issues when working and studying the hermeticity of microelectronic devices.