> Why do chis degrade? Is this due to the whiskers I’ve heard about? No, tin whiskers are a separate issue, which happens mostly outside the chips. The keyword

> Why do chis degrade? Is this due to the whiskers I’ve heard about? No, tin whiskers are a separate issue, which happens mostly outside the chips. The keyword you're looking for is electromigration (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration).