A coating for mitigating metal whiskers on a metal surface includes a polymeric coating material; and a metal ion complexing agent impregnated within the polymeric coating material, the metal ion complexing agent having a standard reduction potential (E) that is greater than a metal in the metal surface.

Methods are disclosed which discourage formation of destructive corrosion on or about circuit traces of printed circuit boards, and/or mitigate electronic circuit degradation and or destruction through corrosion of the circuit traces, whereby said corrosion produces changing characteristics of the circuit, and/or shorting to other adjacent circuit traces. Aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure include or provide for forming at least a portion of a circuit trace or traces with fractal and/or self-complementary geometries, or self complementary geometry alone.

A foil structure with electrical functionality and external contacting includes a region containing an electrical transmission path and a contacting region for the external contacting of the electrical transmission path. At least one electrically conductive layer, which is provided with a material mixture of silver and carbon, is contained in the contacting region of the foil structure. The electrically conductive layer can be extended from the contacting region of the foil structure into the region containing the electrical transmission path and can form the electrical transmission path. The electrically conductive layer can be disposed on a conductor track in the contacting region. The electrically conductive layer is mechanically and climatically stable by virtue of the mixture of silver and carbon.

A flexible printed circuit board with reduced ion migration from signal-carrying elements which are coated against corrosion includes an insulating layer, a wiring area, a copper electroplating layer, a nickel electroplating layer, a cover film, and a gold chemical-plating layer. The wiring area is formed on the insulating layer. The copper electroplating layer formed on the wiring area has a first portion and a second portion. The nickel electroplating layer is formed on at least the first portion and exposes sidewalls of the first portion. The cover film is formed on the second portion and fills in gaps of the copper electroplating layer. The gold chemical-plating layer is formed on top surface of the nickel electroplating layer and the sidewalls of the first portion.

The present invention relates to the field of electric drive devices and arrangements comprising a plurality of power semiconductor components formed in or on a common substrate, and more particularly to an arrangement for monitoring the condition of a power semiconductor module of an electric drive device and an electric drive device. The arrangement for monitoring the condition of a power semiconductor module of an electric drive device comprises at least one pair of sensor elements, each pair comprising a first PCB copper trace sensor element and a second PCB copper trace sensor element, arranged on a printed circuit board parallel next to each other as a sensor element pair, wherein said first PCB copper trace sensor element is connected to a positive DC supply voltage source (UDC+) and said second PCB copper trace sensor element is connected to a negative DC supply voltage source (UDC?) of said electric drive device so that upon applying the DC supply voltage of said electric drive device said DC supply voltage is applied to said at least one pair of sensor elements at the same time as to the circuit components of the power semiconductor module.

Methods are disclosed which discourage formation of destructive corrosion on or about circuit traces of printed circuit boards, and/or mitigate electronic circuit degradation and or destruction through corrosion of the circuit traces, whereby said corrosion produces changing characteristics of the circuit, and/or shorting to other adjacent circuit traces. Aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure include or provide for forming at least a portion of a circuit trace or traces with fractal and/or self-complementary geometries, or self complementary geometry alone.

A method of manufacturing a circuit substrate includes the steps of preparing a conductor paste in which a powder of at least one of a metal boride and a metal silicide is added to a powder of silver (Ag), applying the conductor paste to a surface of a ceramic substrate which has been fired, applying a glass paste to the surface of the ceramic substrate after applying the conductor paste, firing the conductor paste applied to the surface so as to form a conductor trace, and firing the glass paste applied to the surface so as to form a coating layer.

A flexible printed circuit board with reduced ion migration from signal-carrying elements which are coated against corrosion includes an insulating layer, a wiring area, a copper electroplating layer, a nickel electroplating layer, a cover film, and a gold chemical-plating layer. The wiring area is formed on the insulating layer. The copper electroplating layer formed on the wiring area has a first portion and a second portion. The nickel electroplating layer is formed on at least the first portion and exposes sidewalls of the first portion. The cover film is formed on the second portion and fills in gaps of the copper electroplating layer. The gold chemical-plating layer is formed on top surface of the nickel electroplating layer and the sidewalls of the first portion.

An object of the invention is to provide a conductive film that can prevent an operation error caused by ion migration and is suitable for, for example, a projected capacitive touch panel, a method for manufacturing the conductive film, and a touch panel using the conductive film. In the conductive film, a resin layer is laminated on a surface of a substrate. A mesh-shaped groove portion is formed in a surface of the resin layer. A thin metal wire is provided in the groove portion to form an electrode pattern. When a value indicating ion migration characteristics of the electrode pattern in a longitudinal direction is ML and a value indicating ion migration characteristics of the electrode pattern in a lateral direction is MS, a migration ratio obtained by dividing the larger of the two values ML and MS by the smaller value is in the range of 1.0 to 1.4.

A flexible printed circuit board with reduced ion migration from signal-carrying elements which are coated against corrosion includes an insulating layer, a wiring area, a copper electroplating layer, a nickel electroplating layer, a cover film, and a gold chemical-plating layer. The wiring area is formed on the insulating layer. The copper electroplating layer formed on the wiring area has a first portion and a second portion. The nickel electroplating layer is formed on at least the first portion and exposes sidewalls of the first portion. The cover film is formed on the second portion and fills in gaps of the copper electroplating layer. The gold chemical-plating layer is formed on top surface of the nickel electroplating layer and the sidewalls of the first portion.