Conductive Anodic Filament (CAF) Formation Antonio Caputo

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 Cu2(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 CA