Corrosion criteria for electronic packaging. I. A framework for corrosion of integrated circuits

A framework for aluminum corrosion is presented which identifies aluminum ion diffusion through a dielectric film as the rate-determining step for the process. A mathematical description of corrosion currents based on this framework is also presented. The activation energy for migration of the ion through the film is shown to be dependent on the activation energy for chemical diffusion and the magnitude of the electric field which is established across the dielectric film as a result of an externally applied bias