What's New - November 2010

• New Papers Now Available at CALCE Publication Archive
• Prof. Han, Research Group Prove Value of Barrier Coating in Flexible Electronics
• Prognostics and Health Management Tutorial and Technical Review Meetings a Success
• REGISTRATION NOW OPEN: Electronic Supply Chain and Counterfeit Symposium UMD-College Park
• CALCE Co-Sponsors Reliability Conference in India
• CALCE to Present at 2010 IMECE
• Test Services Failure Analysis Course a Success. Next Course Set for Spring 2011.
• PHM Group Welcomes New Faculty
• CALCE Expands with New MEMS Group
• Upcoming Webinars

New Papers Now Available at CALCE Publication Archive
As the leader in electronics products and systems research, CALCE is dedicated to disseminating the most up-to-date research and latest discoveries in life cycle engineering research to its academic, research and industry constituents. The CALCE Publication Archive offers a complete collection of journal and conference papers published by CALCE faculty and students. The archive is updated daily and abstracts from posted publications are available to all public visitors. CALCE consortia members may view the full text of publications with an active web or articles access account. Below is a list of recent additions to the archive.

• Prognostics of Embedded Planar Capacitors Under Temperature and Voltage Aging M. Alam, M. Azarian, M. Osterman, and M. Pecht, ASME Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, Philadelphia, PA, 2010.
• Failure Precursors for Polymer Resettable Fuses, S. Cheng, K. Tom, and M. Pecht, IEEE Transactions on Devices and Materials Reliability, Vol.10, Issue.3, pp.374-380, 2010. 
• Computer Manufacturing Management Integrating Lean Six Sigma and Prognostic Health Management, G. Niu, D. Lau, and M. Pecht, International Journal of Performability Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 453-466, September 2010.
• Prognostics of Interconnect Degradation using RF Impedance Monitoring and Sequential Probability Ratio Test, D. Kwon, M. Azarian, and M. Pecht, International Journal of Performability Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 443-452, September 2010.
• Application of Grey Prediction Model for Failure Prognostics of Electronics, J. Gu, N. Vichare, B. Ayyub, and M. Pecht, International Journal of Performability Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 435-442, September 2010.

For the complete list of CALCE papers, please visit the CALCE Publication Archive.

Prof. Han, Research Group Prove Value of Barrier Coating in Flexible Electronics

	Prof. Bongtae Han

In the past three years, Professor Bongtae Han, esteemed CALCE faculty and director of the CALCE Laboratory for Optomechanics and Micro/nano Semiconductor/Photonics Systems, and his research group published three papers documenting their work on barrier coatings used in flexible electronics in high-profile Physics journals—including Applied Physics Letters, Journal of Applied Physics and the Journal of Chemical Physics. Culminating years of dedicated research and experimentation, each paper is expected to greatly impact standards for the application of barrier coating in flexible electronics manufacturing.  Below is a list of the most recent papers published by the Han and his research group:

• Analytical and Molecular Simulation Study of Water Condensation Behavior in Mesopores with Closed Ends, C. Jang and B. Han, The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 132, 104702, 2010.
• Analytical Solutions of Gas Transport Problems in Inorganic/Organic Hybrid Barrier Structures, C. Jang and B. Han, Journal of Applied Physics, 105, 093532, 2009.
• Ideal Laminate Theory for Water Transport Analysis of Inorganic/Organic Multilayer Barrier Films, C. Jang, Y. Cho and B. Han, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 93, 13307, 2008.

For more information on these publications, please visit the CALCE Publication Archive.

Prognostics and Health Management Tutorial and Technical Review Meetings a Success
The CALCE PHM group recently completed one of its most successful consortium meetings in recent history with a three-day event addressing current issues in Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) of electronics. The expansive three-day event, held October 19-21 at CALCE headquarters on the University of Maryland’s College Park campus, included a two-day short course on PHM methods followed by a one-day review of the PHM group’s current research activities. Attendees of the two-day short course participated in engaging lectures, discussions and interactive explorations sessions on failure prediction, Physics-of-Failure (PoF) methodologies, canaries for PHM, and fusion prognostics with the PHM group’s top-flight investigators and students.

Following the two-day short course, many attendees remained on campus, joined by numerous members of the CALCE Prognostics and Health Management Consortium, to get a inside look at the latest findings from PHM group’s research activities as part of  the PHM Fall Technical Review. PHMC members and attendees of the previous days’ short course witnessed over fifteen presentations by PHM faculty, investigators and students on a range of topics, including: PHM implementation, PHM for LED lighting systems, Prognostics of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT), PHM for RF-MEMS, and Early fault detection. Attendees were notably enthusiastic about the presentations, with many eager to participate in the PHM group’s next Technical Review, scheduled for March 24, 2011. The Spring Technical Review promises to bring attendees more innovative research and insight into the future of PHM applications. For more information on the PHM Group and the Fall Short Course/Technical Review Event, please contact Nikhil Lakhar at nlakhkar@calce.umd.edu.

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN: Electronic Supply Chain and Counterfeit Symposium UMD-College Park

	Dr. Diganta Das

Date: November 30 – December 2, 2010
Venue: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

SMTA and CALCE are pleased to announce the University of Maryland as the east coast venue for the Symposium on Counterfeit Electronic Parts and Electronic Supply Chain. On December 2, 2010, CALCE and SMTA will present a number of workshops, including:

• Inspection Training Seminar
• IPR Protection: First Line of Defense - Customs
• Managing Electronic Part Obsolescence
• Electrical Testing, Characterization and Qualification for Part Authentication
• Material Level Evaluation and Characterization for Part Authentication
• Part Manufacturer and Distributor Assessment
  

This symposium will offer a forum to address all aspects of changes during the electronic parts supply chain, from the performance of part selection and management through the life cycle of select parts. CALCE and SMTA's goal is to provide professionals with relevant information that can be used for solving problems today while planning for the future ofbusiness and technology. Don’t miss this opportunity to network with government agencies and peers who are addressing the counterfeit problem!  For more information, including the full program for this event, visit the symposium website at www.smta.org/counterfeit or contact Diganta Das at digudas@calce.umd.edu.

CALCE Co-Sponsors Reliability Conference in India

Prof. Michael Pecht

CALCE will co-sponsor the 2nd International Conference on Reliability, Safety and Hazard - Risk-Based Technologies and Physics-Of Failure Methods (ICHRES) in Mumbai, India this winter.  This IEEE reliability society event showcases research on various areas of Engineering Science, with over one hundred articles presented over a period of three days. This conference will provide a forum for technical discussions on recent developments in risk-based approaches and the role of physics-of-failure (PoF) methods in decision making.

CALCE Director Michael Pecht will deliver the Plenary Keynote Address, "Innovations in Reliability Practices," on December 14 , at the event, where he will discuss current challenges in reliability and innovative reliability practices being developed and implemented by industry leaders. Dr. Diganta Das of CALCE will also be in attendance to lead a one-day tutorial on Physics of Failure and Reliability on December 13.  In addition, CALCE will present several research papers on physics of failure (PoF) and prognostics from Prof. Dasgupta, Dr. Diganta Das, Dr. Michael Azarian and Prof. Michael Pecht. To register for ICHRES, please visit the conference web site here.

CALCE to Present at 2010 IMECE

	Dr. Abhijit Dasgupta

CALCE will have strong participation in the 2010 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). CALCE faculty member Prof. Abhijit Dasgupta will lead a group of his top students and investigators in a number of insightful, engaging presentations of the latest CALCE research during the 6-day event, scheduled for November 12-18 at the Vancouver Convention and Exposition Center in Vancouver, British Columbia. 

Prof. Dasgupta and his research group will present their research and review posters during the three-day technical program, Nov. 15-17, at the heart of the exposition. Through both their posters and speaking engagements, Prof Dasgupta’s research group will address current research findings in Physics-of-Failure (PoF) qualification, Modified Iosipescu specimen evaluation, SAC305 fatigue durability, Crack initiation and propagation in wavy solder IMC interfaces, Multi-Scale modeling of Pb-free solder interconnects, and much more. A listing of the group’s presentation schedule is available below.

The IMECE is one of the ASME’s premier annual events, bringing together engineers and student engineers from a assortment of mechanical engineering disciplines to showcase research, discover new testing and measurement methodologies and establish professional and research partnerships.  Events like these provide CALCE researchers opportunity to ensure that their research ideas are vetted amidst peers and experts. This year’s IMECE, the first to be held in scenic Vancouver, British Columbia, is set to be one of the most productive IMECE events in recent history. For more information on Prof. Dasgupta and his research group’s attendance at IMECE, please contact Prof. Dasgupta at dasgupta@calce.umd.edu.

 Click here for schedule of Dasgupta group presentations at IMECE.

Test Services Failure Analysis Course a Success, Next Course Set for Spring 2011
CALCE Test Services successfully conducted its second Failure Analysis short course of the year, from September 14-17. Focusing on specimen preparation and materials analysis techniques, the short course, held at the CALCE Failure Analysis Laboratory on the University of Maryland’s College Park Campus, welcomed over 15 attendees from research and industry leaders, including NASA, the US Army, RUAG Space AB, Honeywell, Bose and DirecTV. The intensive four-day session combined classroom instruction on analysis-related topics with demonstrations of destructive and non-destructive analysis techniques and sample preparation activities where attendees used the latest failure analysis equipment from Buehler to test metallographic techniques. Following the success of September’s short course, CALCE Test Services will hold another four-day session April 26-29, 2011. For more information on the Failure Analysis Short Course, click here or contact Bhanu Sood at bpsood@calce.umd.edu or (301)405-3498. Click here to read more.

PHM Group Welcomes New Faculty

	Dr. Nikhil Lakhkar

This summer, The CALCE PHM Group welcomed new faculty research member, Dr. Nikhil Lakhkar. Lakhkar received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. His research interests include prognostics and health management, lead-free product reliability and high heat flux cooling of electronics. During his studies at UT Arlington he also worked at IBM’s Advanced Thermal Laboratories in Poughkeepsie, NY, and at Maxim Integrated Products, Dallas, TX. His technical publications include papers on thermal management, lead-free electronics, and thermoelectrics. For more information on Dr. Lakhkar and his work with CALCE, please contact him at nlakhkar@calce.umd.edu.

CALCE Expands with New MEMS Group

On July 22, CALCE celebrated the founding of its newest group, the MEMS Group (MEMSG), with a informative and lively kickoff meeting. Welcoming a number of attendees from electronics industry and research communities, MEMS Group introduced its unique mission to an enthusiastic audience. Established in early 2010 by Dr. Ravi Doraiswami, CALCE MEMS Group was designed to expand the center’s focus beyond electronic reliability, failure analysis and prognostics. CALCE MEMS Group will offer solutions to industry-level issues with micro-electro mechanical (MEMS) components and systems, and address challenges in healthcare, energy harvesting and prognostics and health management (PHM).   The MEMS Group will explore innovative approaches to predicting system failure, and  extend its expertise to investigating the reliability of bio-medical instruments and developing BioMEMS sensors for healthcare application; researching wireless networking and the uses of remote monitoring in studying systems during field operations; and develop guidelines and standards for RF MEMS, BioMEMS and microfluidic MEMS reliability. To learn more, visit the MEMS Group website at: http://www.calce.umd.edu/MEMS/.

Upcoming Webinars
Power Electronics for Sustainable Energy Systems
November 9, 2009 11:00 am US EST
$300 for non-consortium members. Free for consortium members

Dr. Patrick McCluskey

On November 9, Prof. Patrick McCluskey will examine reliability issues related to power electronics used in energy storage applications. Prof. McCluskey is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, where he is also Assistant Director for Component Research at the CALCE Electronic Products and Systems Consortium. He is the principal investigator for topics related to computer-aided risk assessment of microelectronics, electronic packaging design for high temperature and high power applications, and commercial component insertion into high reliability applications. For more information, please click here or contact Dr. McCluskey at mcclupa@calce.umd.edu.

Interconnect Durability of Package on Package Assemblies
December 7, 2010, 11:00am US EST
$300 for non-consortium members. Free for consortium members

	Dr. Michael Osterman

On December 7, Dr. Michael Osterman will present an intriguing web seminar on “Interconnect Durability of Package on Package Assemblies.” In this one-hour seminar, Dr. Osterman will discuss Package on Package (PoP) methodologies, an emerging trend in packaging technology, and present an assessment of solder interconnect reliability in pre-stacking or in-line stacking and reflow-produced PoP assemblies. Seminar participants will learn how this developing methodology will be useful in multiple applications, from mobile to industrial and beyond.

Dr. Osterman is a Senior Research Scientist with CALCE and the director of the Electronic Products and System (EPS) Consortium at the University of Maryland. He also heads the development of simulation assisted reliability assessment software for CALCE and simulation approaches for estimating time to failure of electronic hardware under test and field conditions. For more information on this web seminar, please click here or contact Dr. Michael Osterman at osterman@calce.umd.edu.