Spectroscopy Analysis of Corrosion in the Electronic Industry Influenced by Santa Ana Winds in Marine Environments of Mexico

Climate change in some regions of the world is due to the effect of variations meteorological phenomenon, such as El Nino southern Oscillation (ENOS), which occasioning rainfalls in winter and even flooding, cold fronts and tropical cyclones in Baja California. Santa Ana winds (SAW) are influenced by ENOS, originated in the Santa Ana Canyon in the Mojave desert (Travina et al, 2002), which cause rapidly changes in the climate conditions in the south west of California, USA y northwest of Baja California, Mexico. SAW are developed when the desert is cold, and are presented most commonly during autumn and spring seasons. This originates fast temperature rises and relative humidity (RH) drops, causing damage in the vegetation of these zones and changes in the meteorological conditions affecting the environments in indoor of industrial plants. Due to drastic changes in temperature and humidity in indoors of companies by SAW, an effect of strong transitions of these climatic factors occur which in combination with air pollutants as sulphurs and chlorides generate deterioration of copper metals of electronic machines and equipments. Analysis of raw materials used in electronic devices and electrical failures of electronic components were carried out in 15 companies in the coast of Baja California, Mexico. This study presents an analysis of winter of 2009, early spring of 2010 and late autumn of 2010. Humidity and temperature ranges of these winds can change rapidly from dry to wet, cold to warm and reverted in some hours. These several variations influence the corrosion rate of copper electrical connectors and connections of electronic equipments near the coast, installed in industrial parks of the northwest of Mexico in marine environments. In this region are located two important cities: Tijuana in the border with San Diego, California where was evaluated this phenomenon in ten companies and in Ensenada at 100 km. near the USA-Mexico border, with five industrial plants analyzed. The amount of defective devices increased in 25% and failures in electronic machines and equipments in 28% in the period of SAW occurred, compared with other seasons. In addition, 100% of raw materials located in warehouses of industrial companies, 33% were unusable. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) technique was applied to determine the corrosion products in electrical connections and connectors of industrial electronic devices, equipments and machines.