Electrochemical Migration Failure of the Copper Trace on Printed Circuit Board Driven by Immersion Silver Finish

With lead-free legislation impacting printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing, immersion silver (ImAg) finish is adapted as the top finish of copper trace on PCB due to its many advantages. However, it is easy for silver to form electrochemical migration (ECM) in high humid environment, so that the potential bias and spacing between adjacent circuits are limited. In addition, since the thickness of ImAg finish is usually less than 0.15μm restrained by the electroless plating process, the copper trace under the silver finish cannot be fully covered, which causes the complexity of corrosion and electrochemical migration. In this paper, water drop test was used to induce the electrochemical migration on ImAg finished “Y” pattern circuits on PCB. The surface insulation resistance was detected by a picoammeter and the growth of dendrite deposit between two electrodes was monitored by a video system. The electrolytic reaction and galvanic reaction on the electrodes formed by bimetal couples was analyzed theoretically. The mechanism of electrochemical migration of copper driven by immersion silver finish was discussed. The effects of potential bias, spacing and electric field intensity between adjacent circuits on electrochemical migration were discussed.