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What's New - July 2010
CALCE Develops Effective Drop Testing with DMSA
With the rapidly increasing popularity of portable electronics, the electronics industry is pushing the boundaries of new designs to develop lighter, faster, cheaper products that can survive drops that are inevitable in handheld systems. As the drop durability of products continue to increase, the accelerated stress conditions for drop testing are becoming more stringent. In response, CALCE has expanded its drop testing capabilities to very high accelerations, reaching levels as high as 30,000 G. Test capabilities include a DMSA (Dual Mass Shock Amplifier), a mechanical accelerator that uses secondary impacts to amplify shock amplitudes on a commercial drop tower by as much as 15x. In addition, CALCE is also developing specialized fixture concepts that provide additional amplification using further secondary impacts between the specimen and fixture. CALCE has also developed detailed computational models to analyze secondary impact events on the DMSA, and on the fixture, to provide fundamental insights into the measured amplifications and to aid in design of these test setups. The model provides excellent qualitative agreement with measured results, and valuable parametric insights into the effect of test setup design, e.g. programmer materials, drop height, DMSA table mass, DMSA spring stiffness, etc.
This experimental and modeling research will continue such that CALCE can continue to provide insights into high acceleration drop-testing methods and guidelines for reliable product design. For more information on CALCE's drop testing efforts, please contact Dr. Abhijit Dasgupta at dasgupta@calce.umd.edu.
Prof. Pecht Visits Nissan, Discusses Advanced Reliability for Electronic Car
Professor Pecht was recently invited by Nissan to present a talk titled “Problems and Countermeasures of Electronic Products Reliability that Enterprises Face.” Nissan is especially interested in electronics reliability as it plans to introduce its new 100% electric car, the LEAF, in 2010. The zero-emission LEAF will rely on power coming from a 24kWh lithium ion battery pack. The LEAF will have a daily range of 100 miles, be able to be recharged in about 8 hours, and is predicted to have a life of up to 10 years. The LEAF also features LED headlights and taillights and an energy-recovering braking system.
Prof. Pecht was given a special tour of Nissan’s next generation power engine modules. He also had very productive discussions with Nissan engineers about Nissan’s new design methods and test approaches, with emphasis on advanced diagnostics and prognostics. Nissan understands that being able to assess and ensure the reliability of the electronics in their vehicles is more important now than ever. For more information, please contact Prof. Pecht at pecht@calce.umd.edu.
Dr. Das Presents at Advanced Materials and Failure Analysis Workshop
On May 21, Dr. Diganta Das, CALCE, addressed attendees of the 5th Annual Advanced Materials Failure Analysis (AMFA) Workshop, with his presentation Counterfeit Electronics - The Problem Goes Beyond Parts. Through his presentation, Dr. Das discussed new areas of possible counterfeiting and their consequences:
Many materials used for making electronic parts and circuits can be targets of counterfeiting. With recent reports of the prevalence of counterfeit electronic, most responsible organizations have taken steps to enhancing awareness of the risk of counterfeit electronic parts. As the risk of counterfeit in electronic systems expands beyond electronic parts to ancillary items, such as batteries and wiring, identification and avoidance methods must be improved to prevent system problems as counterfeit parts.
Organized by a committee of failure analysis industry and research leaders, the AMFA workshops provides an audience-friendly learning experience on guided by prominent, experienced invited speakers addressing current issues in material and failure analysis. The 2010 AMFA Conference was designed as a forum to inspire communication between the microelectronics and biotechnology communities in order to identify issues common to each community's technology and capabilities roadmaps. To that end, presentations at this year’s AMFA workshop covered emerging topics in both fields, specifically: counterfeit microelectronics issues and risk management, characterization of physical and mechanical properties of amorphous materials, and government funding of circuit analysis tools. For more information on Dr. Das’ attendance at the 2010 AMFA conference, please contact Dr. Das at digudas@calce.umd.edu.
Dr. Sandborn Presents at VHPM Workshop and Symposium
Dr. Peter Sandborn, CALCE, University of Maryland, conducted a three-hour workshop, Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) Return on Investment Analysis and the Use of PHM in Maintenance Planning, on May 24 at the Vehicle Health and Prognostic Management Workshop & Symposium in Shrivenham, United Kingdom. Dr. Sandborn addressed the life cycle costs associated implementing PHM into systems, cost avoidance opportunities with PHM, calculations of Return on investment (ROIs) for systems with PHM, cost-availability tradeoffs (including “design for availability” approaches), and the application of cost analysis to maintenance planning. For more information on Dr. Sandborn's workshop, please contact him at sandborn@calce.umd.edu.
CALCE Co-sponsoring 2nd ICRSH Conference in Mumbai, India
December 14 –16, 2010; Venue: Sheraton Four Points Hotel, Vashi Navi Mumbai, India CALCE, the Bhabha Atomic Research Center-Mumbai, and the Society for Reliability & Safety are jointly organizing the Second International Conference On Reliability, Safety And Hazard-Risk-Based Technologies And Physics-Of Failure Methods, with the theme “Risk-based Technologies and Physics of Failure Methods” (ICRESH-2010), to be held December 14 -16, 2010, in Mumbai, India.
The objective of this conference is to provide a forum for technical discussions on recent developments in the area of risk-based approach and role of physics-of-failure methods in decision making. The conference invites research and technical papers of high quality, bringing out the original contributions, for presentation in the conference proceedings. It is proposed to publish a book containing the papers presented in the conference. For more information, please visit the information page here.
Failure Analysis Short Course –September 14-17
CALCE Test Services will hold a four-day short course on Failure Analysis techniques at the CALCE Failure Analysis Lab on the University of Maryland College Park campus from September 14-17. Sponsored by CALCE and Buehler (the world's premier manufacturer of scientific equipment and supplies for use in materials analysis), this intensive short course will offer attendees the opportunity to participate in lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on laboratory tasks relating to failure analysis methodology, specimen preparation, and materials analysis techniques for electronics assemblies, components, and devices.
Lecture topics will include:
- physics-of-failure root cause analysis,
- guidelines for selection of analytical tools, and
- best practices on operating procedures of laboratory techniques.
The laboratory portion will include demonstrations of non-destructive and destructive analysis techniques, as well as hands-on sample preparation using metallographic techniques on the latest failure analysis equipment from Buehler. Attendees may submit samples for use in laboratory and hands-on demonstrations, up to three weeks before the course.
Registration for the course is $2500 USD per individual attendee. For more information on the short course, contact Bhanu Sood at bpsood@calce.umd.edu, or visit the information page here.
Upcoming Webinars
July - High-Sensitivity Warpage Measurement During the Assembly Process - Applicability and Limitations of Existing Methods
July 20, 2010 11:00am US EST
$300 USD for non-consortium members. Free for consortium members.
Non-Member Registration Form
On July 20, Prof. Bongtae Han will conduct a one-hour web seminar on High-Sensitivity Warpage Measurement during the Assembly Process. Prof. Han will address the many applications and limitations of existing methods of warpage measurement. Additionally, Prof. Han will review warpage measurement techniques implemented for packaging applications, with a special look at two recent developments in warpage measurement: far infrared Fizeau interferometry (FIFI) [1,2] and shadow moire with non-zero Talbot distance (SM-NT) [3,4]. Select results from each technique will be presented. Registration is $300 USD for non-members and free to EPSC members. For more information on the July webinar, please contact Prof. Bongtae Han at bthan@calce.umd.edu, or visit the webinar information page here.
August 24, 2010, 11:00 am US EST
$300 for non-consortium members. Free for consortium members
On August 24, the CALCE web seiminar series will highlight recent CALCE research on Tin Whiskers with a presentation by Dr. Michael Osterman. The seminar will provide a review of present status of CALCE research related to tin whiskers. Dr. Osterman will address assessment of failure risk presented by the use of tin finished materials in electronic hardware. Additionally, Dr. Osterman will discuss the effectiveness of conformal coating and potential of electrical arcing will be discussed. Registration for the webinar is free to EPSC members, and $300 USD for non-members. For more information on the August webinar, please contact Dr. Michael Osterman at osterman@calce.umd.edu or visit the webinar information page here. |
