Space qualified EEE components are packaged with metallic or hermetic ceramic materials, often with inner cavity, which have proven a robust integrity and are able to support severe environmental stresses, including thermal cycles, etc. For those packages, the hermeticity was easy to be verified using different leak test techniques as the ones reflected in the known Hermeticity Test Method: ESCC Basic Spec 21100, MIL-STD-750 TM 1071 or equivalent: bubble test, Helium leak test, 85Kr radioisotope leak test, etc. These techniques are mainly based on the injection of a trace element under controlled conditions (pressure, time,….), forcing the accumulation of the trace element in the cavity. The leaving trace element is accurately measured, using a proper detector, and determining the device leak. Nowadays, the new EEE electronic devices packaging trends are based on the use of molded – injected plastic encapsulation or depositing a plastic coating directly over the active device elements, without inner cavity, and classic hermeticity tests are not suitable. However, COTS plastic encapsulated devices have the risk to produce failures when exposed to environments rich in moisture or other gases, with ionic contaminations like S, Na, Cl, … which can be absorbed, retained, and diffused, allowing its transport through the bulk material and trough the different interfaces between the package materials and the other construction elements: lead-frame, …, etc. There is a need to identify a test procedure “equivalent” between brackets to the hermeticity test which will allow to characterize the device package properties. The proposed idea is to develop an study to review the available techniques, their values and applicability to our problem and the feasibility to be executed in an industrial way. The study would be enriched if combined with the one entitled: "Assessing plastic package efficiency and PEM including moisture IC sensor within the package".
