Thursday, September 30, 2010

Nathan Blattau presenting at iMAPS Chesapeake Chapter, Laurel, MD on Oct.5

Nathan Blattau will present "Tensile Ratcheting in Solder Bumps" at the Fall Symposium of the IMAPS Chesapeake Chapter on October 5th. For more information, please contact Nathan Blattau, nblattau@dfrsolutions.com.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Austin CTEA Electronics Design & Manufacturing Tech Forum & Expo: Oct. 7th

Central Texas Electronics Association

Electronics Design & Manufacturing Tech Forum & Expo
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Norris Conference Center at Northcross Mall in Austin

Program:

10:30 – 5:00 Trade Show Open

11:00 - First Presentation, Dr. Randy Schueller, DfR Solutions:

"Key Reliability Risks on Pb-free Products"

Noon - Complimentary Lunch and Door Prize Drawings

1:00 - Second Presentation, Iga Hallberg, HelioVolt:

"Solar Power - Macroeconomic Trends"

2:15 - Third Presentation, Dr. Ron Lasky, Indium Corporation / Dartmouth College:

"Establishing a High-Yield, Pb-free Process, including Ultra Fine Pitch Printing
for Passives and CSPs"


3:00 - Afternoon Refreshments, Networking, and Door Prize Drawings

3:30 - Fourth Presentation, David Carey, UBM TechInsights:

"Packaging for Portables: Going Vertical and Getting Small"

5:00 - Door Prize Drawings & Trade Show Closes


Registration Via SMTA Website:

This event is complimentary for SMTA and IMAPS members and non-members as well.

Event Location:
Norris Conference Center at Northcross Mall (backside), 2525 West Anderson Lane, Austin, Texas

In Central Texas, SMTA and IMAPS work together as the Central Texas Electronics Association (CTEA)

Thursday, September 23, 2010

2010 IEEE Workshop on Accelerated Stress Testing & Reliability (ASTR): Oct 6-8 in Denver

2010 IEEE Workshop on Accelerated Stress Testing & Reliability

“Bridging the Gap between the Test Lab and Field Failures”
October 6 – 8, 2010
Denver , CO

ASTR 2010 will provide a forum to bridge gaps in knowledge and share ideas that address intra and inter industry endeavors to limit and eliminate field failures of products. The focus will be on rapidly finding design weaknesses, developing robust systems, and improving strategies to cost effectively screen defects and weaknesses in electronic and electro-mechanical hardware and structural systems while reconciling twin needs of obtaining high product quality and reliability with that of low product development and manufacturing costs and timely introduction of new products to market.

Click here for the complete event schedule.

This is always a great, informative event!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

DfR Solutions at IPC Electronics Midwest: Chicago, Il Sept. 28-30

Randy Schueller will be presenting "Design for Reliability: The Next Generation" at the IPC Midwest Conference on Thursday, September 30th at session S05. For more information or to arrange a meeting during the conference, please contact Randy Schueller, rschueller@dfrsolutions.com .

S05 Design for Reliability (DfR) and Failure Analysis

Thursday, 9/30/2010 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Moderator: John Radman, Trace Laboratories East Denver
Turn on the news these days and see how quality recalls can detrimentally affect the confidence and loyalty customers have for a company’s product. This session will cover various failure modes, identify high risk assembly processes, and outline physics of failure (PoF) principles and other critical prevention strategies in DfR that need to be implemented to product a defect-free quality product.

ESD Control for the Automotive Electronics Industry
Gerry Pedone, Delphi Electronics & Safety

Strategies for the Prevention of Board Strain and Cracked Chips in Automotive Electronics
Steve Davidson, Delphi Electronics & Safety

Reliable Solder Identification by X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy
Ronald Glaser, CMG Sales/Fischer Technology, Inc.

Design for Reliability: The Next Generation
Randy Schueller, DfR Solutions

Die Attach Solder and Solder Alternatives
Brian Toleno, Ph.D., Henkel Corporation

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

DfR Solutions in Los Angeles, CA: September 27th-30th

Cheryl Tulkoff and Craig Hillman will be visiting companies in the Los Angeles area. If you and your colleagues are interested in a visit and a presentation on a range of technical topics, please contact Tammy Smittenaar, tsmittenaar@dfrsolutions.com.

Monday, September 20, 2010

DfR Solutions in Connecticut: September 23rd and 24th

Craig Hillman will be visiting companies in Connecticut September 23rd and 24th. If you and your colleagues are interested in a visit and presentation on a wide range of technical topics, please contact Tammy Smittenaar, tsmittenaar@dfrsolutions.com.

Monday, September 13, 2010

DfR at Pb-Free Electronics Risk Management (PERM) meeting in Bloomington, IN: September 21-23

Jim McLeish will be attending the PERM meeting in Bloomington, IN September 21-23. For more information or to arrange a meeting during the conference, contact Jim McLeish, jmcleish@dfrsolutions.com.


The Pb-free Electronics Risk Management Consortium

About PERM
The purpose of the Pb-Free Electronics Risk Management (PERM) Consortium (formerly known as LEAP) is to provide overarching leadership and coordination of Pb-free electronics risk management activities for the government and industry aerospace and defense communities.

The goal of PERM is to better respond to the long term challenges of Pb-free solders and finishes over a systems life cycle.
The PERM Consortium addresses executive leadership, communications, research coordination, standards, training, advocacy, supply chain, and international cooperation through dedicated task teams and advisory groups.

The PERM Consortium is chartered by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and includes support from DoD, DoE, Army, Air Force, Navy, FAA, NASA, and industry.

PERM White Paper

Friday, September 10, 2010

DfR presenting at the ESTC 2010 Conference in Berlin, Germany: September 13-16

Cheryl Tulkoff will be presenting "Managing Reliability Expectations and Warranty Costs in Medical Electronics" at the Electronics System Integration Technology Conference in Berlin, Germany. For more information on this topic or to arrange a meeting during the conference, please contact Cheryl Tulkoff, ctulkoff@dfrsolutions.com.

Conference Program of ESTC 2010 now available.

The program committee has arranged 160 oral and 80 poster presentations into an exciting program for the ESTC 2010 Conference in September. Check out the conference program now!

Download the conference program!

Conference topics are:

Microsystem Packaging

Application and product-oriented packaging technologies
New approach of sensor and actuator principles
Integration of new functionality in microsystems
Micro-nano integration
Nanobased advanced packaging technologies (e.g. self assembly, top-down and bottom-up approach, integration of nano-objects, CNT, tools, process)
New Materials and Processes

IC packaging processes including bonding and plating processes
Technology, development and application for adhesives, encapsulants, interconnect materials on substrate and wafer level
Added functionality materials: magnetic, thermal, optical, nano-enhanced
Optoelectronics

Packaging & interconnection strategies for novel roll-to-roll lighting devices
100Gb/s Ethernet PIC & ultra-wide band optical transceivers
Power LED and solid state lighting
Optical PCB: optical and electrical signal integration
Hi-power diode laser packaging, couplings, fiber pigtailing and connectorization
Concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) and optoelectronics in energy
Assembly and Manufacturing Technology

Advanced process development and equipment improvement for volume production
Cost, yield, performance and environmental impact improvements
Process characterization
New product introduction and ramp-up
Design for flexible manufacturing, testing and burn-in, and design for manufacturing
Manufacturing simulation, optimisation and scheduling
MEMS and opto-electronic assembly
Board level, product and system level assembly
Modeling and Simulation

Electrical and mechanical modelling
Simulation and characterization of packaging solutions including system-level applications
Prediction of thermal and mechanical performance of packages and modules
Applied Reliability

Reliability field data analysis
Fast reliability quaification
Advanced failure analysis
Failure mode identification and ranking
Reliability modeling, reliability diagnostics and curing
Failure prediction and experimental verification
Characterization and modeling of material
Process and product behaviour
Lifetime prediction
Reliability standards
Power Electronics

Further development of high power devices (e.g. IGBT-, MOSFET-packaging)
Alternative packaging and cooling concepts (e.g. double-sided cooling)
Prediction of thermal and thermo-mechanical performance of packages and modules
Reliability investigations and life time prediction
High temperature applications
Electrical Design & Modeling

Technology-aware design of circuits and systems - from architectural design to implementation level
Multi domain system level modelling
Design for manufacturability and testability
Design approaches for robust, fail safe and fault tolerant systems
Impact of integration technology - SiP and 3D
Advanced methods for 3D floor planning and place & route
Emerging Technologies

Nano-packaging and bio-electronic packaging
Organic printable electronics packaging
Green electronic packaging
Portable power supply packaging

Thursday, September 9, 2010

IEEE Solar Technology Workshop, Austin, TX: September 16, 2010

Paul Parker of SolarBridge and Cheryl Tulkoff will be presenting "Reliability Challenges for Solar Microinverters" at this critical IEEE workshop. For more information on DfR services for the photovoltaic (PV) inverter industry and their customers, please contact Cheryl Tulkoff, ctulkoff@dfrsolutions.com

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Austin ASQ Meeting Tonight: Lean Six Sigma with Forrest Breyfogle

Wednesday - September 8, 2010. Monthly Section Meeting (at Marie Callender's)

5:30 - 6:30 pm - Networking Time
6:30 - 6:45 pm - Announcements
6:45 - 7:45 pm - Main Speaker Presentation "Lean Six Sigma: Beyond the Project to a Business Management System"
7:45 - 8:00 pm - Door Prizes


Lean Six Sigma: Beyond the Project to a Business Management System

Presented by Forrest W. Breyfogle III* President and CEO, Smarter Solutions, Inc.

Organizations have gained much from Lean and Six Sigma project improvement efforts; however, these efforts did not prevent the occurrence of our current economic crisis. Lean Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM), and other process improvement efforts have helped organizations improve; however, these efforts often occur in silos, where the benefits are not felt at the big picture executive level. Because of this, when financial times get tough Lean Six Sigma programs often find that their efforts are being downsized and that both Black Belt and Master Black Belt process improvement practitioners are being laid off.

Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) is a re-invention of our current business system that provides the framework for moving toward the 3 Rs of business. Incorporated in IEE is an Enterprise process Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (E-DMAIC) roadmap.

Described in this presentation are the nine logic steps associated with execution of the E-DMAIC system where strategy creation is step five and incorporates a blending of analytics with innovation for this planning creation. The IEE business management governance system has a metric improvement need pull system for the creation of Project DMAIC (P-DMAIC) improvement efforts, which truly integrate Lean and Six Sigma tools in the roadmap’s execution and benefit the business as a whole upon completion. See complete information

*: Forrest Breyfogle is the CEO and President of Smarter Solutions, Inc. Mr. Breyfogle is an ASQ Fellow who has authored 11 books, including a 4-book series on the Integrated Enterprise Excellence System (i.e., going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard).

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

CTEA Electronics Design & Manufacturing Tech Forum & Expo: Oct. 7th!

Central Texas Electronics Association

Electronics Design & Manufacturing Tech Forum & Expo
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Norris Conference Center at Northcross Mall in Austin

Program:

10:30 – 5:00 Trade Show Open

11:00 - First Presentation, Dr. Randy Schueller, DfR Solutions:

"Key Reliability Risks on Pb-free Products"

Noon - Complimentary Lunch and Door Prize Drawings

1:00 - Second Presentation, Iga Hallberg, HelioVolt:

"Solar Power - Macroeconomic Trends"

2:15 - Third Presentation, Dr. Ron Lasky, Indium Corporation / Dartmouth College:

"Establishing a High-Yield, Pb-free Process, including Ultra Fine Pitch Printing
for Passives and CSPs"

3:00 - Afternoon Refreshments, Networking, and Door Prize Drawings

3:30 - Fourth Presentation, David Carey, UBM TechInsights:

"Packaging for Portables: Going Vertical and Getting Small"

5:00 - Door Prize Drawings & Trade Show Closes


Registration Via SMTA Website

This event is complimentary for SMTA and IMAPS members and non-members.

Event Location: Norris Conference Center at Northcross Mall (backside), 2525 West Anderson Lane, Austin, Texas

In Central Texas, SMTA and IMAPS work together as the Central Texas Electronics Association. (CTEA)

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Shock and Vibration of Pb-free

DfR has announced it is building upon its successful SBIR Phase I Partnership Program. Where SBIR Phase I Partnership focused on capturing the behavior of Pb-free solder under shock and vibration, the SBIR Phase II Partnership will focus on quantifying the value of various mitigation strategies, including staking, underfill, dummy ball / ball removal, and cutouts. Participants will not only have exclusive access to the largest investigation into Shock and Vibration of Pb-free solder ever performed, they will also finally be able to capture the cost / risk tradeoffs necessary for a successful product launch. For more information, please contact Craig Hillman, chillman@dfrsolutions.com

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Design for Excellence (DfX) Series in Austin, TX: October 11-15

DfR Solutions, in collaboration with Ops Ala Carte, is proud to announce that a weeklong DfX training series will be held in Austin, Texas, in October. This one-of-a-kind collaborative effort will provide designers, reliability personnel, and engineering management with tools on how to meet time-to-market deadlines and reduce warranty issues. Areas to be covered include Design for Reliability, Design for Manufacturability, and Design for Testability, just to name a few. For a full schedule of courses and information on registration, please click here or contact Tammy Smittenaar, tsmittenaar@dfrsolutions.com or get further registration and course details online here.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

DfR Circuit Design Wizards - Have a little fun!

DfR is often asked to perform analysis of a circuit to identify performance and reliability improvements. Recently, we were asked to analyze this unique configuration. After extensive electrical simulation, we determined that a 1.21 jiggawatt flux capacitor was required. If you have one of these parts available, please contact Joelle Arnold, jarnold@dfrsolutions.com.