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12 SMT Magazine • April 2014 by rajan ambat TechnicAl uniVerSiTy oF denMArk Climatic Reliability of Electronic Devices and Components fEATurE SummarY: this article provides an overview of the climatic reliability issues of electronic devices and components with a focus on the metals/alloys usage on PCBa surface together with cleanliness issues, humidity interaction on PCBa surface, and PCBa design and device design aspects. the miniaturization of electronic systems and the explosive increase in their usage has in- creased the climatic reliability issues of electronics devices and components, especially when metal/ alloy parts are exposed on the PCB assembly sur- face or embedded within the multilayer laminate. Problems are compounded by the fact that these systems are built by multi-material combinations and additional accelerating factors such as corro- sion causing process related residues, bias voltage, and unpredictable user environment. demand for miniaturised devices has resulted in higher-density packing, with reduction in component size and closer spacing thereby increasing the electric field, while thinner metallic parts need only nanogram levels of metal loss for causing corrosion failures. introduction During the past couple of decades, the use of electronic devices has increased in gigantic pro- portions. Mobile phones are obvious examples of how devices integrate more and more com- plex functions, such as camera, GPS and several wireless communication technologies. The inte- grated device is expected to be cheap, while the applications necessitate it to be robust, durable, and reliable at all environmental conditions, in- cluding severe conditions. Industrial electronics is another sector where the electronic controls and other devices are used irrespective of the type of industries and environmental condi- tions. The vast majority of these electronic sys- tems are not produced with serious consider- ation of the climatic reliability aspects. Climatic reliability issues that led to corrosion can intro-