Reliability of thin film conductors and air gap crossovers for hybrid circuits: Tests, results and design criteria

The Stability of Tellurium Films in Moist Air; A Model for Atmospheric Corrosion

“…[11] is 1/D 0=1. Somewhat similar equations have appeared elsewhere (6,7), but they are empirical modifications of the Arrhenius equation, they do not show the important phenomenon of critical humidity, and they do not revert to the Arrhenius equation at low humidity. Perhaps their chief drawback is that they tacitly assume that corrosion acceleration is absent in the absence of metallic electrodes and applied electric fields.…”

“…In its initial stages, the oxidation rate in air is constant at constant temperature since the con- centration terms are effectively constant. Hence, we may equate the rate constant to the observed rate, R, as K -" r/CTe 9 Cos = ccR [7] where oc is the constant of proportionality.…”

“…This important principle states that atmospheric corrosion is significantly accelerated only when the relative humidity exceeds a certain value. Only recently, in connection with microeleetronie circuits, has detailed work begun to appear on the effect of relative humidity alone on atmospheric corrosion (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14).…”

“…Because of the restriction embodied in Eq. [7], the Arrhenius equation expressing the temperature dependence of the rate constant may thus be stated in terms of the observed rate R : A exp (--AEa/kT) [8] where A is the Arrhenius constant, AEa is the activation energy, ;r is Boltzmann's constant, and T is the absolute temperature. Very often in aging experiments, the accelerated rate at an elevated temperature is compared to the normal rate at ambient temperatures via Eq.…”