Paper VT-MoA7
Novel Leak Testing Methods for High Reliability Hermetic Devices

Monday, October 20, 2008, 4:00 pm, Room 205

Traditionally, leak testing is done using helium leak detectors, which are specially designed for the detection of helium. Helium leak tests are often limited to room temperature which does not allow information to be gathered at elevated temperatures. This type of test only provides information about the leak rate under ambient conditions and not about the temperature at which a leak occurs during a thermal profile or how the leak magnitude changes as a function of temperature. In other cases, components may sealed and contain gases that cannot be detected using traditional techniques rendering them ineffective. Two newly developed experimental methods for leak testing high reliability hermetic devices will be discussed. The first method is used to conduct real-time leak monitoring at temperatures ranging from ambient to 900°C while subjecting one side of the parts to continuous vacuum and monitoring for air components. Any loss of hermeticity will result in increases in air components detected. The second method that will be discussed is a method that involves monitoring for the presence of a specific organic target molecule (in this case, a perfluorinated hydrocarbon) to localize the source of a leak. These experiments are conducted at ambient pressure using solid phase micro extraction (SPME) combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.