Inception and propagation mechanisms of water treeing

Mechanisms of water treeing are reviewed. A definition of water trees is proposed on the basis of permanent the hydrophilic character and the reduced breakdown strength. Properties are discussed that are relevant to the water tree definition and to the inception and propagation mechanism. This includes the water content, the (sub)micrometer structure and the dielectric properties. The discussed propagation mechanisms include electro-mechanical forces, diffusion of hydrophilic species and two types of oxidation mechanisms. Also attention is paid to the correlations between processes and aging conditions. Inception mechanisms include injection of hydrophilic species and/or oxidation in damaged regions, electro-mechanical damage due to high electrical fields.