Jim, Look for the possibility of condensing moisture and electroplating tin from the capacitor termination across the chip surface. I have seen this happen with 0805 sized parts before. It is less likely that it is silver. Nickel barrier chips still have a silver/glass frit termination which is Ni plated with a Sn/Pb solderability coating to preserve solderability. Only a small to non existent portion of the silver at the termination edge would be available for plating or dendrite formation. Again with silver there needs to be moisture present Regards, John Maxwell Please contact me off line at [log in to unmask] if there are any further questions. ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ##############################################################