A Note on the Normalized Approach to Simulating Moisture Diffusion in a Multimaterial System Under Transient Thermal Conditions Using

Moisture can have significant effects on the performance and reliability of electronic components. Accurately simulating moisture diffusion is important for designers and manufacturers to obtain a realistic reliability evaluation. Beginning with version 14, ANSYS is capable of simulating diffusion and related behaviors, such as hygroscopic swelling, with newly developed elements. However, a normalized approach is still required to deal with the discontinuity of concentrations at the material boundaries, and normalization of the moisture concentration in transient thermal conditions is tricky. Case studies have shown that normalizing the moisture concentration with respect to a timeor temperature-dependent material property will lead to erroneous results. This paper readdresses the issues of performing diffusion simulations under transient thermal conditions and more general anisothermal conditions (temporally and spatially), and suggests an easy-to-use approach to cope with the limitations of the current version for users in the electronic packaging industry. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4026661]