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IC aging

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  IC aging David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com> - 2025-12-01 01:47 +0000
    Re: IC aging Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2025-12-01 14:33 +1100
    Re: IC aging john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2025-12-01 10:26 -0800
    Re: IC aging Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> - 2025-12-01 10:38 -0800
    Re: IC aging Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2025-12-01 14:06 -0700

#738017 — IC aging

I'm curious about lifetime of IC's from the 1980's.

Has there been any published work on degradation 
of stored IC's of that era?


-- 
A host is a host from coast to coast...............wb8foz@panix.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

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#738020

On 1/12/2025 12:47 pm, David Lesher wrote:
> I'm curious about lifetime of IC's from the 1980's.
> 
> Has there been any published work on degradation
> of stored IC's of that era?

None that I know of. I had a Philips fax machine that stopped working in 
the 1990's shortly  after the guarantee had expired, and it looked to me 
as if there had been some field driven ion migration in the silicon 
oxide inside some of the gates of of the CMOS IC that monitored the 
key-board and managed the the liquid crystal display.

Surface mount components do have to be stored in a low humidity 
environment - the plastic packaging can soak up enough water from a 
domestic atmosphere to crack up during flow soldering.

Sticking them into a vacuum desiccator for a few days before soldering 
can be a good idea.

-- 
Bill Sloman, Sydney

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#738061

On Mon, 1 Dec 2025 01:47:52 -0000 (UTC), David Lesher
<wb8foz@panix.com> wrote:

>I'm curious about lifetime of IC's from the 1980's.
>
>Has there been any published work on degradation 
>of stored IC's of that era?

There are some issues, like oxidation, corrosion and tin whisker
growth. Best to keep them cool and dry.

Powered up, some older parts had electromigration problems, from
excess current density in metalization.

And the dreaded Purple Plague.

Really early plastic ICs had creepy-crawley  epoxy that broke things.

Some parts had slow ion migration in oxide layers too.

There's a lot of stuff online:

https://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/slva304/



John Larkin
Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
Lunatic Fringe Electronics

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#738062

On 11/30/25 5:47 PM, David Lesher wrote:
> I'm curious about lifetime of IC's from the 1980's.
> 
> Has there been any published work on degradation
> of stored IC's of that era?
> 

There is but most publications are behind a paywall unless you are a 
member of the particular society or have access through work/university:

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7557842

-- 
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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#738074

On 11/30/2025 6:47 PM, David Lesher wrote:
> I'm curious about lifetime of IC's from the 1980's.
> 
> Has there been any published work on degradation
> of stored IC's of that era?

I was looking at this from the other perspective:  what sort of service
life can I expect from components.

A quick peek in my library shows:
+ Circuit level aging simulations predict the long-term behavior of ICs
+ Estimating Operational Age of an Integrated Circuit
+ Real-Time IC Aging Prediction via On-Chip Sensors
Though these are likely more applicable to current technology.  There
are likely more but enabling FTS is still a work-in-progress.  <frown>

FWIW, I have a large collection of older components from that era.
The biggest issue I've found is "tarnish" on the (DIP) leads.

I also know businesses running kit from that era (perpetually
avoiding upgrade cycles) without significant availability issues.

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