Article
Diffusion of water molecules in amorphous silica
IEEE Electron Device Letters
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2012
Disciplines
Abstract
The diffusive penetration of atmospheric water vapor into amorphous silica (a-SiO2) degrades the performance of electronic devices. In this letter, we calculate the range of activation energies for water diffusion in a-SiO2 such that the diffusion time through, for example, a 0.5-m protective layer is on the order of the decadal time scale, as required in typical applications. We find that for all practical purposes, silica composed of n -member rings is impenetrable to water vapor for n ≤ 5 . Thus, we conclude that the distribution of n-member rings in a-SiO2 and, specifically, the n >; 5 fraction is the critical parameter for predicting device performance.
Citation Information
Sarah Kostinski, Ravindra Pandey, Gowtham S, Udo Pernisz, et al.. "Diffusion of water molecules in amorphous silica" IEEE Electron Device Letters Vol. 33 Iss. 6 (2012) p. 863 - 865 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/sgowtham/3/
© 2012 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Publisher's version of record: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/LED.2012.2189750