Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Flip Side of Moore's Law

Looking forward to 45nm or even 32nm semiconductor devices? Think again. The silicon industry has started to acknowledge that the reliability of integrated circuits is likely to suffer as features continue to shrink. Actions to deal with this issue have ranged from minor modifications, such as widening of operational parameters, to major changes such as separate circuits that monitor aging and damage. Regardless of the approach, OEMs need to be aware of and manage this risk. For more information on how DfR can help, please contact Ed Wyrwas, ewyrwas@dfrsolutions.com.

Monday, June 21, 2010

PoP Goes the...Package

The need for innovative packaging to maintain Moore's Law has become increasingly necessary and Package on Package (PoP) has become a popular solution. While there are numerous advantages to PoP, including higher densities and yields, few are aware of PoP's limitations. In our insightful white paper, DfR details some of the advantages and challenges of this wrinkle in 3D packaging. For more information, please contact Randy Kong, rkong@dfrsolutions.com.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Paying the Price for SnPb

Staying with SnPb? It's going to cost you. Forget that the latest technology is not even available SnPb (DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM are only RoHS-compliant) and will require reprocessing (at $15 to $60 per part). Even parts that are still SnPb come with a 50% (512MB SDRAM) to 800% (2N222A NPN Transistors) price premium. Pb-free looking more enticing? Contact Cheryl Tulkoff, ctulkoff@dfrsolutions.com, to learn about DfR's turnkey Pb-free services, including BOM scrub, process review, construction analysis, product qualification, and reliability predictions.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Friday, June 11, 2010

DfR Solutions and ARINC Form Partnership

DfR Solutions and ARINC have created a partnership to provide combined reliability and DMSMS support to the commercial government and defense industries. By bringing together ARINC's DMSMS experience with the resolution and predictive power of DfR Solutions' new Automated Design Analysis tool, ARINC and DfR are revolutionizing performance-based logistics by providing customers with the ability to design in reliability and obsolescence mitigation techniques at a lower total cost of ownership. For more information, contact Nathan Blattau, nblattau@dfrsolutions.com

Sunday, June 6, 2010

DfR Solutions Published: Twice

DfR is proud to announce the publication of two of our articles in leading publications. Melissa Keener's paper entitled "MEMS Reliability and Testing" was published in the May/June issue of Advancing Microelectronics magazine. The paper, co-authored with Greg Caswell and Randy Schueller, discusses the factors influencing the reliability of MEMS devices. Read the full paper here or contact Greg Caswell,gcaswell@dfrsolutions.com, for more information.

Dr. Randy Schueller's paper entitled, "Second Generation Pb-Free Alloys" was published in the January- March 2010 issue of the SMTA Journal of Surface Mount Technology. For more information, contact Randy Schueller, rschueller@dfrsolutions.com.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Coming soon to a City near You:DfR Hits the Road!

DfR will be all over the world in the next few weeks! Some of the many places you'll find us next week are:

IMAPS Nordic Conference and Exhibition (Gothenburg, Sweden: June 6 - 9)
Craig Hillman and Greg Caswell will be presenting a course and a technical paper at the IMAPS Nordic Conference in early June. The seminar is "Contamination and Cleanliness: Developing Practical Responses to a Challenging Problem." The technical paper to be presented is entitled "Manufacturing and Reliability Challenges With QFN." For more information please contact Greg Caswell, gcaswell@dfsolutions.com. To register for the course, please go to the conference website.

DfR Solutions in Europe (June 7-11)
Craig Hillman will be traveling through several countries in Europe giving presentations on cleanliness, Pb- free, design for reliability, physics of failure and giving demonstrations of DfR's new automated design analysis tools. If you and your colleagues are interested in a visit, please contact Tammy Smittenaar, tsmittenaar@dfrsolutions.com.

Embedded Systems Conference - Midwest (Chicago, IL: June 8)
Jim McLeish will be presenting "Common Hardware Mistakes by Embedded Systems Designers" at ESC Chicago 2010. For more information, or to register for the conference, please visit the event website.

DfR Solutions in Chicago (June 7-9)
Jim McLeish will be in the Chicago area presenting to several companies. If you and your colleagues are interested in a visit, please contact Tammy Smittenaar, tsmittenaar@dfrsolutions.com

PERM Conference (Arlington, VA: June 8-10)
Nathan Blattau and Joelle Arnold will be attending the PERM Conference. If you are interested in meeting up with Nathan or Joelle to discuss Pb-free or other topics of interest, please contact Nathan Blattau, nblattau@dfrsolutions.com.

Reliability Seminar (Austin, TX: June 8)
DfR Solutions will be partnering with DLi Labs and Ops A La Carte to present a Reliability Seminar in Austin. For more information, contact Cheryl Tulkoff, ctulkoff@dfrsolutions.com.

SMTA Symposium on Counterfeit Electronic Parts (West) (Phoenix, AZ: June 10-11)
Randy Kong will be presenting "Counterfeit Prevention & Detection Strategies: Cost versus Risk Assessment" at the Symposium. For more information or to register, contact Melissa Serres, melissa@smta.org.

DfR Solutions in Arizona (June 9-12)
Randy Kong will be in Arizona presenting to several companies in the areas of package-on-package and QFN, implementing reliability programs and auditing overseas suppliers. If you and your colleagues are interested in a visit, please contact Tammy Smittenaar, tsmittenaar@dfrsolutions.com.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Austin Green Technology Reliability Seminar & Open House on Tues, Jun 8!

Green Technology Reliability Seminar
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
DLi Labs at 3201 Industrial Terrace #120 in North Austin

Program:

1:00 - Registration Begins

1:05 - Open House and Informal Tours

2:00 - Welcome and Introductions

2:05 - Quick Overview of Ops A La Carte, DfR Solutions, and DLi Labs

2:30 - "Reliability Challenges in the Green Revolution,"
Mike Silverman, Ops A La Carte Reliability Consultants, Santa Clara CA

3:00 - "Reliability in the Green Market of Videoconferencing,"
Nathan Reddy, Polycom, Austin TX

3:30 - Refreshment Break & Networking

3:45 - "Reliability Challenges for Solar Microinverters,"
Paul Parker, SolarBridge Technologies, Austin TX

4:15 - "Accelerated Environmental Stress Testing in the PV World,"
Dr. David Dumbleton, Atlas Material Testing Technologies, Chicago IL

4:45 - Panel Discussion: Silverman, Reddy, Parker, Dumbleton

5:45 - Closing Remarks

6:00 - More Networking and Refreshments


Registration: http://events.linkedin.com/Austin-Green-Technology-Reliability/pub/317197

Cost: There is no charge for this event

Event Location:

DLi Labs at 3201 Industrial Terrace #120 in North Austin
near intersection of North Mopac and US-183 west of Burnet Road