This study was performed in support of the Yucca Mountain Project. For an interesting quick-time movie of the water penetration, visit the following link . Most assuredly, there are others. Let us return to the IBM Microelectronics web pages and consider acoustic tomography. This non-destructive technique monitors the reflections of ultrasound caused by internal features in the device.
Echoes produced by defects are distinct from echoes produced by well-bonded, homogeneous materials.
In microelectronic packages, assembly-induced damage can be evaluated using this method. Acoustic imaging has been successfully applied to components ranging from capacitors to integrated circuits, both before and after board mounting. The image on the left is a color-enhanced acoustic micrograph. The yellow area between the arrows indicates die delamination. This means that the Silicon chip has delaminated from the chip carrier.