I'm curious about lifetime of IC's from the 1980's.
Has there been any published work on degradation of stored IC's of that era?
-- A host is a host from coast to snipped-for-privacy@panix.com & no one will talk to a host that's close.......................... Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433 is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
None that I know of. I had a Philips fax machine that stopped working in the 1990's shortly after the guarantee had expired, and it looked to me as if there had been some field driven ion migration in the silicon oxide inside some of the gates of of the CMOS IC that monitored the key-board and managed the the liquid crystal display.
Surface mount components do have to be stored in a low humidity environment - the plastic packaging can soak up enough water from a domestic atmosphere to crack up during flow soldering.
Sticking them into a vacuum desiccator for a few days before soldering can be a good idea.
There are some issues, like oxidation, corrosion and tin whisker growth. Best to keep them cool and dry.
Powered up, some older parts had electromigration problems, from excess current density in metalization.
And the dreaded Purple Plague.
Really early plastic ICs had creepy-crawley epoxy that broke things.
Some parts had slow ion migration in oxide layers too.
There's a lot of stuff online:
John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics
There is but most publications are behind a paywall unless you are a member of the particular society or have access through work/university:
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required