Palladium/Silver Multilayers

The reliability of thick film multilayer systems, based on palladium‐silver conductors, and obtained from several suppliers, is evaluated. A test structure is presented and the impact of different parameters, such as humidity, temperature, voltage bias and presence of overglaze, on the data is discussed. A SEM analysis of the failed samples allows identification of the failure mechanisms as due to flaws (pinholes and inclusions) in the dielectric.