Effects of Hydrogen on Tantalum Nitride Resistors

摘要

This document is a presentation about the investigation of drift reported in static frequency output from the analog circuit of a Multichannel Microwave Integrated circuit hybrid microelectronic filter module for space flight application. Electron Dispersion X-Ray Detector )EDAX) Analysis of the 35k ohm thin film Tantalum Nitride Chip resistors identified Palladium in the film. A catalytic reaction of Palladium and hydrogen produces mono atomic hydrogen. When the filter module cavities were filled with a 4 % hydrogen 96 % Nitrogen gas mixture at 25C and monitored the electrical performance for 24 hours. Some channels drifted in a similar pattern as the channel being investigated. Palladium was found on the resistors. The corrective actions taken are reviewed, which resulted in a stable circuit.