Environmentally-Induced Failures of Electronic Grade Alloys and Coatings

Dear Colleagues,

Electronic-grade alloys are used in numerous electronic devices and systems, e.g., for interconnections, anodes, wires, surface coatings, fuel cells, batteries, solar cells, packaging, and lids. Electronic systems—like IoT devices, communications networks, autonomous cars, sensors, and actuators—are becoming more important in our everyday lives. Consequently, electronic-grade alloys should exhibit excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal, and reliability properties. This initiates the continuous development and preparation of new alloys via the use of novel techniques, like mechanical-, micro-, and composite-alloying, which belong to a rapidly evolving multidisciplinary research field combining metallurgy, chemistry, and physics.

In many fields, electronic devices need to operate in harsh environments, so not only the quality but the long-term reliability of the applied alloys is also critical. There is a strong need to investigate the environmentally induced failure mechanisms in these alloys, like corrosion, intermetallic formation, and microstructural changes, and their effects on alloy properties, which affect the life-time of electronic devices, and for examining the possible surface preservation methods of the applied material systems against the most frequent failure mechanisms like oxidation, dendrite, and whisker growth. 

This Special Issue is dedicated to disseminating the recent advancements and latest results in this rapidly evolving interdisciplinary research field. We invite colleagues to contribute to this Special Issue in the aforementioned topics and keywords with full papers, short communications, and reviews. The Special Issue focuses on electronic-grade alloys, but other related topics are also welcome!  

Dr. Balázs Illés
Guest Editor

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