Conductive anodic filament (CAF) is a failure mode in printed wiring boards (PWBs) which occurs under high humidity and high voltage gradient conditions. The filament, a copper salt, grows from anode to cathode along the epoxy-glass interface. Ready and Turbini (2000) identified this copper salt as the Cu 2(OH)3Cl, atacamite compound. This work has investigated the influence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyethylene propylene glycol (PEPG) fluxing agents on the chemical nature of CAF. For coupons processed with PEPG flux, with and without chloride, a copper-chloride containing compound was formed in the polymer matrix. This compound was characterized using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as CuCl and an electrochemical mechanism for the formation of the chloride-containing CAF has been proposed. For PEG flux, with and without chloride, it has been shown that CAF only formed, but no copper containing compound formed in the matrix. It appears for PEG fluxed coupons, a PEG-Cu-Cl complex forms, binds the available Cu and acts as a barrier to the formation of CuCl in the polymer matrix. Meeker and Lu Valle (1995) have previously proposed that CAF failure is best represented by two competing reactions – the formation of a copper chloride corrosion compound (now identified as Cu2(OH)3Cl) and the formation of innocuous trapped chlorine compounds. Since no evidence of any trapped chloride compounds has been found, we propose that the formation of CAF is best represented by a single non-reversible reaction.;For coupons processed with a high bromide-containing flux, bromide containing CAF was created and characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to be Cu2(OH)3Br. In addition, a copper-containing compound was formed in the polymer matrix and characterized using XPS as CuBr. An electrochemical mechanism for the formation of bromide-containing CAF has been proposed based on the XPS data.
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