Humidity Threshold Model of Numerical Control Multilayer Printed Circuit Board for Electrochemical Migration

In this paper, numerical control finished boards are employed as test samples to evaluate the effects of the environment and bias voltage on the surface insulation resistance of printed circuit boards. The results indicate that the surface insulation resistance degradation processes leading to failure exhibit a relative humidity threshold value, which is mostly related to temperature, test patterns, and bias voltage. Then, a humidity threshold model is built on the basis of electrochemical migration to quantify the relationship between the relative humidity threshold and conductor spacing and bias voltage under the controlled environments. Finally, experiments and tests have been carried out to validate the effectiveness and practicability of the model. Furthermore, the residual analysis is applied to check the fitting effect of the proposed model. According to the new model, the humidity threshold value can be obtained to provide the guidance for reliability problems in application. It is crucial to the design and deployment of reliable printed circuit boards. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.