THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SILICONE GELS FOR CORROSION PREVENTION OF SILICON CIRCUITS - THE FINAL REPORT OF THE IEEE COMPUTER SOCIETY COMPUTER PACKAGING COMMITTEE SPECIAL TASK-FORCE

Hermetic ceramic semiconductor packaging has been considered almost the only reliable means to ensure long semiconductor life in military applications. Hermetic sealing was the way to avoid corrosion of the interconnecting traces on the die. Yet plastic packaging is considered satisfactorily reliable for many commercial uses, and the use of silicone gel coatings has been reported useful for long-life demanding applications such as telephone and automotive uses [1]-[7]. Such gels may be equally suitable for military applications. This report provides the results of a three year major Task Force effort to determine if indeed silicone gels can provide sufficient reliability protection to justify their use in commercial and military applications. The results indicate very good, but not perfect performance, of three gel types, and indicate that the performance might be dependent on the application methods as much as the selection of gel types.