Wednesday, September 30, 2009

IEEE ASTR Workshop October 7-9. Now Available via WEBINAR!

Below is the most up-to-date information for this year’s ASTR Conference on October 7-9 in Jersey City, New Jersey. We have locked in the schedule of speakers and have a great line-up this year, including a panel discussion on the Green/Clean Tech Industry and the role that Accelerated Testing will be playing in this industry.

The big news is now we are offering the conference via webinar as on option. So if you were not able to make it before due to travel restrictions at your company or because you couldn’t get away from the office for a few days, now you can still attend the conference from your desk. And we are offering the conference at half price for this option. Three full days of technical information delivered to your desktop for only $350 (IEEE members) or $375 (non-IEEE members).

CONFERENCE DATES: October 7-9, 2009

Workshop Website


Theme this workshop: RENEWABLE RELIABILITY

Schedule of Events

Over the last few years, Accelerated Stress Testing & Reliability (ASTR) has been embraced by an ever widening array of worldwide companies seeking to reconcile the need for the highest quality product with the necessary push for early time-to-market. The purpose of the ASTR Workshop is to share ideas on better ways of accelerating and detecting hidden defects, flaws, and weaknesses in electronic and electro-mechanical hardware that would result in failures during usage. These techniques are focused on testing electronic hardware to operation and destruction limits and root cause investigation to determine the physics-of-failure. The goal of AST is to produce mature products at market introduction and efficient an effective sampling screens to monitor for manufacturing excursions with high combined stresses (beyond end-use specifications) for shorter lengths of time. The 2009 workshop will focus on ASTR topics in renewable reliability. This theme will be timely, considering emerging world wide investments towards development and commercialization of sustainable and green energy technologies to generate economic growth and environmental security. The workshop will be held at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City on Hudson, overlooking the New York City skyline.

- Cheryl Tulkoff, ASTR 2009 Chair


CONFERENCE INFO

Date: October 7-9, 2009

Location: Jersey City, NJ (Hyatt Regency Jersey City)

Hyatt's Website

Go Directly to the Online Registration Page

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Dr. Randy Schueller to present at SMTAI San Diego, Oct. 4-8

Dr. Randy Schueller of DfR Solutions will be very busy out at SMTAI San Diego next week! Randy is giving a class on Reliability of Green Electronics, presenting the two papers, and chairing a session on PCB surface finishes.

Check back after the event for a recap! Some details on the sessions and what he'll be up to:

The Reliability of ‘Green’: Going Beyond SAC305- Sunday, October 4
Randy Schueller, Ph.D., DfR Solutions

What You Will Learn
As the RoHS legislation enters its third year, knowledge of the basics of Pb-free design and manufacturing is proliferating. Consumer electronic OEMs have been manufacturing Pb-free electronics for several years while even companies that produce higher reliability products (telecom, industrial, medical, military, avionics) have made the transition or are in the process of preparing for the eventual demise of SnPb. Unfortunately, the introduction of new environmental legislation and new environmental-friendly materials continues at a rapid pace. As a result, the design / manufacturing / component / reliability engineer continues to struggle with new Pb-free alloys and halogen-free materials, among other issues. While this course will provide a comprehensive overview of some of the challenges of Pb-free, it will also focus on some of the newest issues in ‘green’ electronics. These will include tin whisker mitigations, halogen-free laminate, manufacturing challenges that continue to be a problem with Pb-free, the performance of second (2nd) generation Pb-free solders, and the newest long-term reliability information for Pb-free.

Who Should Attend
This course is geared toward engineers and managers in the areas of product development, manufacturing, quality, or reliability. Nearly all companies are migrating toward green products whether or not it is intentional. As non-green materials in the electronics industry are phased out, it is critical to understand the key differences and reliability issues that can result from the new material and processes. Consequently, anyone involved in the early life cycle of a product who wishes to mitigate the risk of failure would find value in attending this course.

Topics Covered
  • Components
    • Understanding process sensitivity levels (PSL)
    • Tin Whisker: predictions and mitigations
  • Printed Circuit Boards
    • Predicting and preventing printed board damage
    • Newest Pb-free solderability finishes
    • Halogen-free laminates: the good, the bad, and the ugly
  • Solder and Manufacturing
    • 2nd generation solders: what/who/why
    • Finding a solution to hole fill
    • Is Pb-free the culprit to head-in-pillow?
  • Long-Term Reliability
    • Temperature cycling
    • Mechanical shock
    • Vibration
Alternate Lead-Free Alloys - Tuesday, October 6
The advent of lead-free soldering with the de-facto SAC305 standard and its close relatives has resulted in poor performance and increased cost in some applications. It is only natural that research for substitute materials would transpire. This session will cover some of the work in this arena, most notably Investigations on the processability of SnCuNi alloy for SMT assembly, efforts to minimize and standardize the number of lead-free alloys used, and experimental data and its interpretation for some "second generation" lead-free alloys. The papers will present process development, reliability data, and explanation of the results. This session is ideal for the person who wants to be brought up to speed on what is happening in alternative lead-free alloys to improve performance and reduce cost.

  • Second Generation Lead-Free Alloys
    Randy SchuellerSpeaker of Distinction, Ph. D., Nathan Blattau, Ph.D., Joelle Arnold, and Craig Hillman, Ph.D., DfR Solutions

  • Options for Controlling Moisture Sensitivity in Packages and PWBs During Assembly- Tuesday, October 6
  • Pb-Free Reflow, PCB Degradation, and the Influence of Moisture Absorption
    Randy SchuellerSpeaker of Distinction, DfR Solutions

  • New Technical Advancements in PCB Surface Finishes - Wednesday, October 7
    Chair: Randy Schueller, Ph.D., DfR Solutions

    The surface finish one selects for the PCB is oftentimes the most critical decision in enabling a successful assembly process, and ultimately a reliable end product. The fact that there are half a dozen widely used surface finishes currently on the market suggests there is no single one that meets the many needs of the industry and thus sacrifices are being made. Much research and development is taking place to significantly improve existing surface finishes and in some cases invent new finishes with attributes suitable for a wider range of products. This session contains three excellent papers; the first addresses the important issue of controlling creep corrosion failure on immersion silver PCBs. The new use of organic metals to greatly improve the characteristics of immersion tin finishes is presented in the second paper. The final paper is the revealing of a promising new surface finish material with many attractive properties for the electronics industry. Anyone involved in design, assembly, or reliability would benefit from this session.


    Monday, September 28, 2009

    Dr. Nathan Blattau to present Oct 8th at the IEEE ASTR Workshop in Jersey City, NJ

    On Thursday, October 8th, Dr. Nathan Blattau will present, "Thermo-mechanical Fatigue Testing of Printed Circuit Card Assemblies Using Power Cycling" at the annual IEEE ASTR (Accelerated Stress Testing and Reliability) Workshop in Jersey City, NJ.

    Check back after the event for a recap and link to his material and presentation!

    About the ASTR Workshop
    Over the last few years, Accelerated Stress Testing & Reliability (ASTR) has been embraced by an ever widening array of worldwide companies seeking to reconcile the need for the highest quality product with the necessary push for early time-to-market. The purpose of the ASTR Workshop is to share ideas on better ways of accelerating and detecting hidden defects, flaws, and weaknesses in electronic and electro-mechanical hardware that would result in failures during usage. These techniques are focused on testing electronic hardware to operation and and destruction limits and root cause investigation to determine the physics-of-failure. The goal of AST is to produce mature products at market introduction and efficient an effective sampling screens to monitor for manufacturing excursions with high combined stresses (beyond end-use specifications) for shorter lengths of time. The 2009 workshop will focus on ASTR topics in renewable reliability. This theme will be timely, considering emerging world wide investments towards development and commercialization of sustainable and green energy technologies to generate economic growth and environmental security. The workshop will be held at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City on Hudson, overlooking the New York City skyline.

    Saturday, September 26, 2009

    IPC Midwest - PCB Session Summary

    At IPC Midwest last week, I presented "Pb-Free Reflow, PCB Degradation, &
    the Influence of Moisture Absorption
    " in the Challenges in Building a High Reliability Military PWB session. The session was attended by approximately 21 folks interested in the latest information on PCBs. They had a lot of great questions and feedback for us.

    Later, I was interviewed about the paper by iconnect007. Complete audio/video interviews of all the PCB presentations can be viewed online.

    Session details:

    Reliability in mission-critical systems is a matter of life and death. This first of two sessions on reliability, will dissect the critical components of reliability for the printed board. If you are concerned about board reliability in the harsher manufacturing environments of lead free, this session is for you.

    The Impact of Converting Flex Circuits from HASL to a RoHS Compliant Surface Finishes

    • Al Wasserzug, Vulcan Flex Circuit Corporation
    Design Considerations for High Reliability PCB

    • Rajesh Kumar, Dynamic Details, Inc.
    Pb-Free Reflow, PCB Degradation, and the Influence of Moisture Absorption

    • Cheryl Tulkoff, DfR Solutions
    Later, I moderated the Printed Board Reliability Issues session. Equally well-attended by an enthusiastic audience, it continued the discussion from the earlier PCB session.

    In the second session on board reliability, we expand on the issues for via reliability and the transition of telecom products into the era of lead free. Join us for the latest information.

    Microvia Reliability Failure Modes

    • Paul Reid, PWB Interconnect Solutions Inc.
    Bare Board Material Performance after Pb-free Reflow

    • Ted Lach, Alcatel-Lucent
    Water Vapor Uptake And Release In Printed Boards

    • Joseph Kane, BAE Systems Platform Solutions

    Sunday, September 20, 2009

    Manufacturing & Reliability Challenges with QFN: CTEA on Oct 23rd

    One of the fastest growing package types in the electronics industry today is the quad flat pack no lead (QFN), also known as a bottom-termination SMT component. While the advantages of QFNs are well documented, concerns arise with manufacturability, compatibility with other OEM processes, and reliability.

    I've published two articles on this topic. Part I addresses the manufacturing aspects while Part II addresses the reliability aspects.

    I'll be presenting on QFN challenges next at the:

    Central Texas Electronics Association (SMTA/IMAPS) Expo & Tech Forum

    in Austin, TX on Thursday, October 23rd.

    Registration to attend the event is free!

    Friday, September 18, 2009

    DfR Solutions to present at IEEE ASTR 2009

    Dr. Nathan Blattau, Vice President and Chief Scientist at DfR Solutions, will present "Thermo-mechanical Fatigue Testing of Printed Circuit Card Assemblies Using Power Cycling" at the annual IEEE ASTR (Accelerated Stress Testing and Reliability) 2009 Workshop in Jersey City, NJ on Thursday, October 8th.

    Check out the workshop at:

    http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/cpmt/tc7/ast2009/

    Check back here after the event for a recap and complete presentation details.

    IEEE ASTR Workshop: October 7-9, 2009

    Over the last few years, Accelerated Stress Testing & Reliability (ASTR) has been embraced by an ever widening array of worldwide companies seeking to reconcile the need for the highest quality product with the necessary push for early time-to-market. The purpose of the ASTR Workshop is to share ideas on better ways of accelerating and detecting hidden defects, flaws, and weaknesses in electronic and electro-mechanical hardware that would result in failures during usage. These techniques are focused on testing electronic hardware to operation and and destruction limits and root cause investigation to determine the physics-of-failure. The goal of AST is to produce mature products at market introduction and efficient an effective sampling screens to monitor for manufacturing excursions with high combined stresses (beyond end-use specifications) for shorter lengths of time. The 2009 workshop will focus on ASTR topics in renewable reliability. This theme will be timely, considering emerging world wide investments towards development and commercialization of sustainable and green energy technologies to generate economic growth and environmental security. The workshop will be held at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City on Hudson, overlooking the New York City skyline.

    http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/cpmt/tc7/ast2009/

    Surface finishes for lead free processing

    Does anyone have quick reference guide or resource for advantages and disadvantages for various surface finishes in lead free processing including surface mount, wave, selective and hand soldering.

    Tuesday, September 15, 2009

    Visiting AssemblyTech Show

    Bob and I will be in Chicago next week learning about some new advances in selective soldering at Pillarhouse USA, during our trip we will stop by the AssemblyTech show on Wednesday morning September 23.

    DfR Solutions at IPC Midwest, Sept. 23-24, 2009

    I'll be attending IPC Midwest in Schaumburg, Illinois next week where I'll moderate a panel, present a paper, and be interviewed by iconnect007.

    While there,I will present "Pb-Free Reflow, PCB Degradation, and the Influence of Moisture Absorption" in the session:

    S03 Challenges in Building a High Reliability Military PWB
    Wednesday, 9/23/200910:00 AM - 12:00 PM



    I'll moderate this session:

    S06 Printed Board Reliability Issues
    Wednesday, 9/23/20091:30 PM - 3:00 PM



    Finally, I'll have an interview about the PCB paper with Ray Rasmussen and Steve Gold at the show floor studio at Booth 507 at 11 on Thursday, 9/24/09.

    If you'll be at IPC Midwest, please look me up! Otherwise, check back here after the event and I'll have all the material and event recap posted.

    For further information, check out these links:

    www.ipcmidwestshow.org/html/main/default.htm

    www.iconnect007.com/pages/iconnect007.cgi