Using optical correlation to measure leak rates in sealed packages.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Optical Metrology
• Quality Control

Background:

• Microelectronic devices require stringent leak testing to ensure reliability.
• Traditional leak detection methods can be time-consuming or destructive.
• Accurate measurement of leak conduction rates is crucial for quality assurance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present and validate an optical correlation technique for measuring leak conduction rates.
• To assess the applicability of this technique for hybrid microcircuit packages.
• To establish the potential of this method as a non-destructive quality-control tool.

Main Methods:

• Utilized hybrid microcircuit packages with controlled glass capillary leakers.
• Applied an optical correlation technique to detect dimensional changes under external pressure variations.
• Measured the rate of dimensional recovery to compute leak rates, incorporating internal free volume.

Main Results:

• The optical correlation technique accurately measured leak conduction rates across a range of 10(-1) to 10(-6) atm cc/sec.
• Demonstrated the ability to detect subtle dimensional changes in microcircuit packages.
• Successfully computed leak rates based on dimensional recovery dynamics and internal free volume.

Conclusions:

• The optical correlation technique provides accurate and sensitive leak rate measurements.
• This method is suitable for non-destructive testing of microelectronic packages.
• The technique offers significant advantages for quality control in microelectronics manufacturing.