refer now to the drawings wherein depicted elements are not necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by the same reference numeral through the several figures . [ 0048 ] fig1 is a perspective view of a preferred apparatus for estimating moisture absorption by material generally denoted by the numeral 10 . moisture absorption estimating apparatus 10 includes a container 12 , a gas inlet and outlet 14 , 16 , an atmospheric sensor 18 , a circulating mechanism 20 , a humidifying device 22 , a viewing window 24 , and a test specimen 26 . container 12 functions to form a space , and may be any sized and shape suitable for testing , including but not limed to rectangular , cubical , spherical , and cylindrical . enclosed box or container 12 is a substantially air tight container . container 12 may be constructed of various material suitable for the conditions to be induced within container 12 . for example , in the following examples container 10 is constructed of a metal having an internal volume of approximately one ( 1 ) cubic foot . although not shown , container 12 may have ports , doors , windows , and a sliding drawer or hinged section for entry into the interior thereof . a test specimen 26 , such as a pem , is positioned within container 12 . container 12 may further include a viewing window 24 constructed of a material such as , but not limited to , glass or plexiglass . at least one and possibly a pair of humidifying devices 22 may be positioned within container 12 . humidifying devices 22 may be omitted , used singularly or in combination with a gas injected through gas inlet 14 to form the atmosphere within container 12 . in fig1 humidifying device 22 includes a tray 28 adapted for holding water and a sponge 30 . additionally , various gas compositions may be injected into container 12 through gas inlet 14 and exhausted through gas outlet 16 , if desired . to maintain circulation of the atmosphere within container 12 a fan 20 is provided therein . an atmospheric sensing probe 18 is preferably positioned to provide constant or intermittent monitoring and recording of conditions within container 12 . for example , atmospheric probe 18 may be a vaisala , model hmi 33 , rh / temperature probe having continuous monitoring and recording capabilities . the method of operation of moisture absorption measuring apparatus 10 will be further described and understood in reference to the examples presented below . initial experimental studies were performed using multiple “ dummy ” plastic ball grid array ( bga ) and plastic leaded chip carrier ( plcc ) devices . these components were identical to the “ real ” thing , as far as moisture sensitivity is concerned , because the only difference between them and similar ( but real ) components is their lack of an internal encapsulated electronic “ chip ”. these internal chips typically make up only a small fraction of the total pem mass and are inert with respect to moisture absorption . neither of these device types were labeled by their manufacturers with moisture sensitivity level ( msl ) ratings [ ansi / ipc - sm - 786a , 1994 ; intel corp ., 1993 ; ipc / edec j - std - 020a , 1999 ; and ipc / jedec j - std - 033 , 1999 ], but real pems of this type tend to be sensitive to moisture absorption . this is one of the reasons that these specific devices were initially selected for use in this experimental study . other pem packages tested were real ( not dummy ) metric plastic quad flatpack packages ( mqfps ) having a manufacturer &# 39 ; s msl rating of 3 ( note : msl ratings generally vary between 1 and 6 , wherein an msl rating of 1 means that the pem is practically insensitive to moisture absorption while a msl rating of 6 means that the pem is extremely sensitive to moisture absorption ). moisture absorption properties of these mqfps were measured under the same conditions that were applied to the unrated bgas and plccs . the pem bgas ( exact designation : pbga676 - w / die , part no . 10724 , nominal mass = ca . 4 . 3 g ) and plccs ( exact designation : plcc84 - t , part no . 10105 , nominal mass = ca . 6 . 9 g ), referred to above , were obtained from practical components , inc . ( 15211 springdale street , huntington beach , calif . 92649 ). the mqfps ( exact designation : ic , 16 bit mcu , 20 mhz , 0 / 70 c ., p - mqfp , part no . sab80c166m , nominal mass = 1 . 6 g ) were obtained from the pioneer standard electronics co . ( 2385 edison road , twinsburg , ohio 44087 . the pbgas were approximately 1 . 27 mm thick × 35 mm square . they also contained 676 solder “ bump ” attachments . the plccs were about 4 mm thick and 29 mm square . they contained 84 solder attachment leads ( 21 on each side ). the p - mqfps were nearly 2 mm thick and 13 mm wide and 19 mm long . they contained 100 attachment leads ( 20 on each short side and 30 on each long side ). prior to testing , five identical pem components at a time were dried together within an enclosed box furnace pre - heated to , and then maintained at , 125 ± 3 c . all of the tested pems were heated in this way for 60 ± 1 hr ( in air ). all subsequent measurements of mass increases , due to the exposure of these devices to saturated atmospheres of moist air , were made intermittently without any additional intervening heat treatments . a controlled moisture environment , created within an “ air tight ” metal box 12 , was employed during the moisture absorption phase of this study ( see diagram in fig1 ). metal container 12 enclosed an internal volume of about one cubic foot . a nearly saturated atmosphere of moist air was created , and maintained , within enclosure 12 by two wet sponges 30 placed vertically within narrow and shallow rectangular metal trays 28 partially filled with water . sponge trays 28 were located inside and near each side of container 12 so the central region was available for holding pem test specimens 26 . moist air circulation within this enclosure was also maintained continuously by a small internal electric fan 20 . the actual rh levels and temperatures , within this controlled atmosphere chamber , were continuously monitored and recorded using a vaisala , model hmi 33 , rh / temperature probe 18 . probe 18 was inserted through a hermetically sealed fitting welded into the back end of the box . throughout the initial series of measurements , the rh level and temperature of the air enclosed within this box was maintained at 95 ± 5 % and 23 ± 2 c . this relatively high rh level was chosen as one of the initial condition parameters because it was easy to create and maintain and it produced the greatest possible pem mass increases ( due to the absorption of moisture at ambient temperatures ) for any specific exposure time . in a subsequent set of measurements , a 50 / 50 mixture of saturated air and dry air were pre - blended and then directed through gas inlet 14 into metal box 12 ( but , without the internal wet sponges 30 ) in order to determine moisture absorption rates of the mqfps , previously described , in a gaseous 50 ± 5 % rh environment . during each set of moisture absorption test trials , five components 26 of one type were marked with numbers from one to five ( initially ) to provide for individual identification . then , these parts were oven dried ( as described above ), weighed ( dry ), and then placed within the controlled atmosphere humidity chamber 12 . components 26 were intermittently , and individually , taken out of humidity box 12 and re - weighed to measure the amount of moisture absorbed up to that recorded weighing time . the weighing process was completed rapidly for each separate component 26 , then that component 26 was returned to humidity box 12 and the next part 26 was weighed in turn . this weighing process was repeated periodically for at least 50 hours , for each component 26 , from the initial start of the moist air exposure process . masses ( to the nearest 0 . 0001 g ) and exposure times for each component were also recorded . therefore , a quantitative measure of statistical variations in the experimental results ( as a consequence of slight unavoidable variations in component fabrication / treatment conditions ) was obtained . each of the nearly identical pems 26 had slightly different initial dry masses . they also differed significantly in mass from the other component types . so , all mass increases that were measured were “ normalized ” to a fictitious initial component “ dry mass ” of 100 g . in other words , all actual measured mass increases were adjusted to produce the mass increases that would have occurred if the initial dry mass of each pem was exactly 100 g . using this technique , it was possible to make better comparisons between the true relative mass increases of different types of pems as a function of time . an additional advantage of this approach is that mass increases per 100 g of an initial dry component &# 39 ; s mass are equivalent to percentage mass increases . the results of the pem mass increase measurements due to the absorption of moisture , as corrected using the previously described methods of data reduction and analysis , are summarized in fig2 . for purposes of clarity , the data collected using only three of the nearly identical components 26 ( of each type ) have been plotted . the scatter in the individual data points , associated with each curve , gives a good indication of the precision ( or lack thereof ) of the evaluated experimental data . the actual curved lines that are drawn within this graph were generated using a least squares computer curve fitting routine that used only the data points associated with each specific pem component . these curve fitted lines in fig2 all had the same general form of : y = ax b , where a and b are constants for each line but differ from line to line . for x and y coordinate values of 0 and 50 hr and 0 and 0 . 12 g h 2 0 / 100 g chip mass , respectively , approximate values of a and b are 0 . 04 and 0 . 3 . [ 0069 ] fig2 gives a good indication of the relative moisture absorption sensitivity of all of the pem component types that were tested . of these component types , the unrated ( in terms of msl ) bgas were most sensitive toward the absorption of moisture because , aside from slight statistical variations , this type of pem was generally able to absorb more moisture , in any given time period ( per 100 grams of initial dry chip mass ), than either of the other two pem component types . although the p - mqfps were less sensitive toward moisture absorption than the bgas , the experimentally observed differences are not significant . since the p - mqfps had a msl of 3 , the bgas were only slightly more sensitive toward the absorption of moisture . the actual bga msl rating was estimated to be within the range of 3 to 4 . on the other hand , the plccs were the least sensitive pem components that were tested since all of their least square curve fits were significantly below the bga and p - mqfp curve fits . in addition to studying selected pem moisture absorption rates , at typical ambient temperatures and at rh conditions near 100 %, an evaluation of moisture absorption rates that could be expected at lower ( and more typical ) humidity levels was undertaken . however , collecting the original data , as well as employing the data reduction / analysis procedure that allowed generating fig2 took a considerable period of time . therefore , moisture absorption rates were estimated by theoretically modifying the “ known ” empirical equation that governs this kind of behavior . recalling the equation y = ax b ( where a and b are constants for each line but differ from line to line ), it was assumed that approximate respective values of a and b were 0 . 04 and 0 . 3 , for a pre - dried pem subjected to an inert moisture saturated gaseous atmosphere at ambient temperatures . if the exponential part of this governing curve ( i . e ., b ) is a constant for each specific pem , but the front end factor ( i . e ., a ) is a variable that is directly proportional to the relative humidity in the inert gas , one can simply adjust this variable for any ambient rh level ( between 0 and 100 %) and thus theoretically generate the expected moisture absorption mass gain versus time curve . this is the procedure that was employed to generate the curves plotted in fig3 for idealized , pre - dried , pems exposed to inert gaseous atmospheres at 5 , 50 , and 100 % rh levels . the actual a values employed in generating these curves were , respectively : 0 . 0397 ( 5 / 100 ), 0 . 0397 ( 50 / 100 ), and 0 . 0397 ( 100 / 100 ). the b value , in all cases , was approximately 0 . 276 . in order to test the validity of the theoretical method of estimating moisture absorption properties of selected pems at rh levels below 100 %, a series of additional measurements involving the moisture absorption properties of another set of p - mqfps was made in the vicinity of 50 % rh . these devices were preconditioned , by oven heating in air , in the same way as the original p - mqfps that were exposed to moist air at the 95 ± 5 % rh level . aside from their exposure to moist air at a rh humidity level of 50 ± 5 %, the method of obtaining the mass increase data ( with respect to time ) for these pems , as well as the data reduction and analysis procedure , was as described above . the graphical results of this effort , as well as re - plotted data for the same type of pems exposed to rh levels of 95 ± 5 %, have been illustrated within fig4 . the predicted mass increases show good agreement with the experimental results using the assumption that mass increases are directly proportional to rh levels . however , averaged mass increases for the pems exposed to the 50 % rh atmosphere were not exactly one - half of the averaged mass increases for the pems exposed to the 100 % rh atmosphere , after the same exposure time . this discrepancy is , most likely , due to the fact that we did not have perfect control over pem exposure temperatures or exact control over the actual rh that these pems were exposed to during this part of the study . an additional consequence of these results is that entire “ families ” of absorption isotherms may be estimated theoretically , for specific pre - dried pems , by experimentally determining specific absorption isotherms at only one known level of rh in a moist gaseous atmosphere at ambient temperatures . however , this method of estimating amounts of moisture absorbed on specific pre - dried pems , as a function of time , is only good for total pem exposure times on the order of 50 to 100 hr ( allowing for some extrapolated accuracy ) because the best curve fitting equation , obtained from the plotted experimental data , is only a good approximation at relatively short exposure times ( possibly on the order of only 50 to 100 hr ). the efficiency of the method of pre - drying the pems that were tested during the course of this experimental study was evaluated by making a series of additional mass versus time measurements using selected pems that had been pre - saturated with water vapor and then oven dried ( in air ). the data collection / reduction techniques that were employed during this part of the experimental study were as described above , except that these pems were periodically weighed during a heating / desorption process instead of during a humidification / absorption process . the results of this effort have been plotted within fig5 . from these plotted 5 results , it is obvious that the removal rate of absorbed water , from the pem specimens that were oven dried in the vicinity of 125 c ., was very rapid . within approximately 5 . 0 hr of heating time , practically all of the pre - absorbed water was driven out of these components . a conclusion that can be drawn from these results is that 60 hr of heating time , in the vicinity of 125 c ., is more than adequate to remove practically all absorbed water vapor from similar pem devices . the results of this experimental study provide a quantitative indication of specific mass increases , due to moisture absorption in pre - dried pem specimens . these results show that about 50 % of the moisture absorbed during a 50 hr time period occurs within the first 5 hr of the total exposure time . these facts illustrate that even relatively short pem exposure times , in very high rh environments , can be very serious with regard to the overall moisture absorption problem . the experimental results also indicate that good predictions of overall moisture pickup ( i . e ., mass of moisture absorbed per 100 g of dry pem mass versus time at any rh and at a specific temperature ) can be obtained theoretically for specific pem specimens if their moisture absorption versus time behavior can be accurately determined at only one known rh condition at that temperature . this result is significant because it enables the rapid development of complete “ families ” of absorption isotherms from a minimal amount of “ real ” experimental data . this result is even more significant in light of the fact that each type of encapsulating material , used either now or in the future , is likely to behave differently with respect to moisture absorption rates . so , any good approximation that can be used to minimize the time needed to characterize their behavior , with regard to moisture absorption , is useful . additional conclusions regarding the immediate storage of pre - dried pems within very dry air or dry nitrogen environments , until just prior to their use , are self evident .