The protection of groundwater supplies from microbial contamination necessitates a solid understanding of the key factors controlling the migration and retention of pathogenic organisms through the subsurface environment. The transport behavior of five waterborne pathogens was examined using laboratory-scale columns packed with clean quartz at two solution ionic strengths (10 mM and 30 mM). Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Yersinia enterocolitica were selected as representative Gram-negative pathogens, Enterococcus faecalis was selected as a representative Gram-positive organism, and two cyanobacteria (Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena flos-aquae) were also studied. The five organisms exhibit differing attachment efficiencies to the quartz sand. The surface (zeta) potential of the microorganisms was characterized over a broad range of pH values (2-8) at two ionic strengths (10 mM and 30 mM). These measurements are used to evaluate the observed attachment behavior within the context of the DLVO theory of colloidal stability. To better understand the possible link between bacterial transport in model quartz sand systems and natural soil matrices, additional experiments were conducted with two of the selected organisms using columns packed with loamy sand obtained from an agricultural field. This investigation highlights the need for further characterization of waterborne pathogen surface properties and transport behavior over a broader range of environmentally relevant conditions.

A detailed description of the Cu-Al wire bond interface is presented, which can possibly explain the often observed corrosion failures in humidity reliability tests. Using micro-structural analysis techniques, it is shown that the unstressed interface contains up to three intermetallic phases, where the Cu-rich phases are located at the Cu-ball interface. Upon humidity stress test only the high-Cu containing intermetallic layers close to the Cu wire ball bond undergo a corrosion process, whilst the Cu-lean layers are stable in all environment stress tests. The failing layers consist out of an amorphous Al-based oxide matrix with embedded Cu precipitates. The failure process can be explained as galvanic corrosion of the intermetallic phases. The Cu-rich phases corrode faster compared to Al-rich phases, since they have an electrochemical potential lower than the Cu cathode and form, hypothetically, a less stable self-passivation oxide. The observed time-to-failure is then determined by the composition, thickness and volume of the intermetallic layers. This was verified by reliability test results performed on open wire bonds and on plastic encapsulated products. ©2010 IEEE

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