The most frequent failure of electronic components is electrochemical
migration. As a consequence of the formation of humid films on contami
nated printed circuit boards shea cuts occur. To obtain an enhanced ca
pacity the conductor spacings are reduced, promoting the danger of a f
all out by short cuts. In this paper the main mechanisms of the electr
ochemical migration consisting of different reactions as metal solutio
n, metal migration and metal deposition will be described in detail. A
lso methods to avoid electrochemical migration will be discussed.