Electrochemical Migration Impact on Signal Integrity in Silver-Plated High-Speed Circuits

Silver-plated circuit boards and devices are widely used in high-frequency and high-speed communication systems. In a humid environment, electrochemical migration (ECM) may occur in silver-plated circuits when an electric field is applied, resulting in insulation failure. In the current work, high-speed differential printed circuit boards with Ag migration are developed. The impact of silver migration on signal integrity was studied considering both the frequency and time domains. The mixed-mode $S$ parameters, digital waveforms, eye diagrams, and bit error rate of differential circuits with silver migration were evaluated.