These whiskers are called 'Conductive Anodic Filaments (CAF). There has been significant work done in this area at Bell Labs some 15 years ago or so. You may check Appendix C 'Design for Reliability (DfR) for Insulation Resistance' of the just released IPC-D-279 'Design Guidelines for Reliable Surface Mount Technology Printed Board Assemblies'. Also a Surface Mount Council White Paper in the SMI'95 proceedings 'Design for Reliability in Advance Electronic Packaging' by W. Engelmaier and L. Turbini. Werner Engelmaier Engelmaier Associates, Inc. Electronic Packaging, Interconnection and Reliability Consulting 23 Gunther Street Mendham, NJ 07945 Phone & Fax: 201-543-2747 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Werner Engelmaier President Engelmaier Associates, Inc. Mendham, New Jersey Laura J. Turbini *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to: * * [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text. * ***************************************************************************