Silver Migration in Glass Dams between Silver-Palladium Interconnections

It is shown that two mechanisms are encountered in metal migration in glass-a platelike and treelike growth mechanism. The treelike growth, requiring a much higher interfacial energy contribution, is favored by high voltage application. The interaction of these two mechanisms accounts for the unexpected voltage and gap dependence of the niigration rate. The location of the metallic growth has been established as being in the volume of the glass. Significant differences exist in the electrical characteristics of the substrates of different manufacturers. After the application of glass dams these differences become less pronounced.