Moisture, Myths, and Microcircuits

Abstract

The development and use of an accurate method for the measurement of moisture in microelectronic packages has uncovered many myths related to the assembly and processing of microcircuit packages. The myths indicated a general lack of awareness on the part of the manufacturer and user of the basic physics and chemistry of moisture adsorption, desorption, and leak mechanisms. This paper describes the mass spectrometer method developed to measure moisture in electronic packages, and experiments conducted to disprove myths associated with moisture trapped within the hermetically sealed cavity.