Influence of water absorption on charge formation in printed circuit board insulations

While the reliability of bulk insulation has become important particularly in multilayer boards and embedded boards, electronics are to be used under various environments such as at high temperature and in high humidity. We observed internal space charge behavior for two types of epoxy composites under dc electric fields to investigate the influence of water at high temperature. In the case of glass/epoxy specimen, homocharge is observed at water-treated specimen, and spatial oscillations become clearer in the water-treated specimens. Electric field in the vicinity of the electrodes shows the injection of homocharge. In aramid/epoxy specimens, heterocharge is observed at water-treated specimens, i.e. negative charge accumulates near the anode, while positive charge accumulates near the cathode. Electric field is enhanced just before each electrode. In order to further examine the mechanism of space charge formation, we have developed a new system that allows in situ space charge observation during ion migration tests at high temperature and high humidity. Using this in situ system, it was also confirmed that heterocharge was observed in water-treated aramid/epoxy composite.