Jc. Lin et Jy. Chan, ON THE RESISTANCE OF SILVER MIGRATION IN AG-PD CONDUCTIVE THICK-FILMSUNDER HUMID ENVIRONMENT AND APPLIED DC FIELD, Materials chemistry and physics, 43(3), 1996, pp. 256-265
Silver migration occurring in pure silver conductive thick films was m
inimized by using Ag-Pd alloys. The in situ microscopic observation, u
nder humid environment and an applied d.c. field, showed that the out-
growth of silver dendrites from the cathode decreases with increasing
(5-20%) amount of Pd in the Ag-Pd specimens, and ceases completely at
30% Pd. The enhancement of silver migration resistance with increasing
Pd concentration in Ag-Pd conductors was evident by the measurements
of the short circuit current between a couple of thick-him electrodes
in distilled water at 5 V. Through the study of anodic potentiodynamic
polarization in 0.01 M NaOH and the examination of the surface films
on the thick films by X-ray diffraction and surface analyses (Auger an
d ESCA), it was found that the anodic formation of PdO blocks the silv
er dissolution, and minimizes the occurrence of silver migration.