Effect of water absorption temperature on space charge profiles in paper/phenol-resin composites for printed circuit boards

More and more electronics are intended for use in adverse environments at high temperatures with high humidity. The spatial distributions of internal charge carriers, mainly due to ionic impurities that appear in hot and humid environments, are considered to affect the reliability of bulk insulation. Therefore, the authors examined space charge behavior inside paper/phenol-resin composites for printed circuit boards under DC voltages, focusing on the effect of the water absorption temperature. Both the sample weight and thickness were increased monotonically by immersion in water with an increase in the water temperature from 24 °C to 85 °C, indicating that the water absorption by the sample was temperature dependent. In the early periods of water absorption (up to 10 hours), the electric field decreased near the two electrodes and increased in the other regions. Furthermore, heterocharge formation was observed near the cathode as the water absorption progressed, becoming more significant at higher water temperatures. Ion chromatography analyses detected numerous ions such as Na⁺, NH⁺₄, and Cl^- from the water, in which the sample had been immersed for 100 hours at various temperatures. It is highly possible that these ions are responsible for the heterocharge formation.