DfR in New England: March 1-4

Greg Caswell of DfR Solutions will be visiting companies in the New England area the first week of March. If you and your associates are interested in an onsite visit and/or presentation, please contact Carrie Sharik-Ernest, csharik@dfrsolutions.com

Dr. Blattau in Phoenix at iMAPS Device Packaging Conference

Dr. Nathan Blattau, Vice President and Chief Scientist at DfR Solutions, will be in Phoenix, Arizona, Monday, March 8, through Thursday, March 11, to present at the iMAPS Device Packaging Conference.

His presentation, entitled, "The Introduction of Tensile Ratcheting in Solder Bumps Encapsulated in Low Tg Underfill," will discuss how unique stress states present with low Tg underfill can result in rapid times to failure in relatively benign environments.

While Dr. Blattau is in the area, he will be available to visit interested companies to give complementary presentations on a variety of topics including modeling component packaging behaviors, Pb-free reliability, and design-for-reliability assessments using DfR’s newest software tools. He would be more than happy to include your company in his visit.

If you are interested in arranging an onsite presentation, or if you would like more information regarding DfR’s services, please contact Carrie Sharik-Ernest, Manager of Marketing, csharik@dfrsolutions.com

DfR in Northern, CA February 24-25

Craig Hillman will be visiting companies in Northern California February 24th and 25th. If you and your associates are interested in an onsite visit and/or presentation, please contact Carrie Sharik-Ernest, csharik@dfrsolutions.com.

DFR's Design for Excellence (DfX) Course Returns

There was such a high demand for the DfX course on the East Coast in October 2009, that we have decided to add West Coast and Southern locations:

•San Jose, CA: April 19-23, 2010
•Huntsville, AL: May 17-21, 2010

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, Design for Testability, Accelerated Life Testing, Warranty Reduction, and Design for Environment. Attendees will be eligible to earn Professional Development Hours (PDH).

We are also offering a Group Discount: Every 5th registrant from the same company registering together is FREE! Unemployed individuals receive a 25% discount, and full-time students receive a 50% discount.

For additional information, including course outlines and registration, please click here.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

DfR to Present at MEPTEC Chip to System Symposium in San Jose, CA: February 23-25

Craig Hillman will give a presentation entitled "The Challenges of Co-Design: When Silicon Pushes Packaging Too Far," at the upcoming MEPTEC symposium. For more information on this topic, please contact Craig Hillman, chillman@dfrsolutions.com

DfR Solutions at Renewable Energy World in Austin, TX Feb 23-25

Cheryl Tulkoff will attend the Renewable Energy World Conference in Austin, TX February 23-25.

For more information on Solar Test and Reliability, please contact Cheryl Tulkoff, ctulkoff@dfrsolutions.com

DfR Solutions in Boulder, CO on February 19

Craig Hillman and Greg Caswell will be in Boulder, CO, on February 19th. If you and your associates are interested in an onsite visit and/or presentation, please contact Carrie Sharik-Ernest, csharik@dfrsolutions.com.

DfR at Photovoltaic Module Reliability Workshop (Boulder, CO: February 18-19)

DfR’s Greg Caswell and Craig Hillman in collaboration with the Indium Corporation will present their Paper on Photovoltaics at the Photovoltaic Module Reliability Workshop (Boulder, CO: February 18-19). If you are interested in learning more about this critical topic, please contact Greg Caswell, gcaswell@dfrsolutions.com.

MDA Mission Assurance Conference (Huntsville, AL: February 17-18)

Nathan Blattau will be in Huntsville, AL in mid-February at the MDA Mission Assurance Conference. He will be presenting a paper on "Strategies for Counterfeit Detection and Mitigation." For more information on this topic, please contact Nathan Blattau, nblattau@dfrsolutions.com

DoD Finally Gets Busy with Pb-free

After an initial delay, with primarily Aircraft Advisories for guidance, the DoD has had a flurry of recent activity. These included experimenting with lead-free manufacturing, a white paper by the PERM group, identifying best practices in lead-free, and developing a DoD-wide policy statement.

What’s next? There is currently a strong push at all levels for a comprehensive funding effort to find acceptable replacements for lead (Pb) in aerospace / defense electronics. Atthe same time, DoD is unlikely to ban lead-free solder. It will instead focus on lead free control plans. A potential alternate approach is the Verizon way: they have introduced so many requirements that none of their suppliers will ever go lead-free. For more information on lead free control plans, contact Craig Hillman, chillman@dfrsolutions.com.

Industry Response to RoHS

The electronics industry continues to respond to the pressures of environmental legislation. The use of Pb-free solder continues to rise, with current Pb-free levels projected to increase to 90% of all solder by 2011. This evolution is being driven by the transition to Pb-free assemblies in non-consumer markets, such as telecom, high-end servers, automotive and medical. For more information on preparing for this transition, please contact Randy Schueller, rschueller@dfrsolutions.com or Cheryl Tulkoff, ctulkoff@dfrsolutions.com.

What about China RoHS?

Last October, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released the Key Administrative Catalog for the Pollution Control of Electronic Information Products (Batch 1). This document, which identifies the specific products covered by China RoHS, is currently limited to phones and printers. Additional versions covering other equipment are expected. While some exemptions are allowed, the biggest concern is the requirement for testing at specified labs in China. For more information, please contact Randy Kong, rkong@dfrsolutions.com.

...and where will RoHS be Tomorrow?

As made clear in the IPC and our ruminations, the consumer industry is supportive of RoHS expansion. And the EU is willing to oblige. The rapporteur is now recommending that all electrical equipment be covered under RoHS and all brominated and chlorinated flame retardants be banned (see the full proposal and arguments.) Amendments are possible until end of February and an initial vote is not expected until late April, so stay tuned. For more information on RoHS, please contact Craig Hillman, chillman@dfrsolutions.com.

Where is RoHS Today...

The last half of 2009 was rife with predictions on the status of RoHS2, including the mysterious 11th Category, exemption recommendations, and DfR's own insight. However, all speculation ceased when the proposed RoHS2 was released. While a more complete list of changes is provided here, the biggest ones are:
• Medical and Monitoring / Control Equipment will be covered
• The list of banned substances has NOT changed
• Compliance to RoHS will now require the CE mark
• All lead (Pb) solder/plating exemptions remained, but will be phased out in four years

Counterfeit Prevention and Detection Techniques

Once a strategic approach is defined, the next step is to identify the appropriate mitigation techniques. While a good first step is to use authorized distributors, business situations sometimes prevent this. This white paper provides the framework for a viable testing program by identifying and detailing useful equipment and test methodologies. For more information, please contact Tom Johnston, tjohnston@dfrsolutions.com.

Counterfeits Continue to Proliferate

The occurrence of counterfeit parts has skyrocketed over the past several years as component life cycles have become shorter and RoHS and WEEE legislations have introduced additional opportunities for counterfeiting. While the introduction of these fakes into defense and aerospace programs is especially concerning, there is one piece of good news: Counterfeiters can get caught. For more information, please contact Nathan Blattau, nblattau@dfrsolutions.com

Design for Excellence Reliability Symposia - 3 Locations Announced

Design for Excellence
DfR Solutions, in association with Ops A La Carte, is holding a five-day professional development reliability symposia. Attendees will be able to select from a DfX track or an ALT/RCA track. 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.

What You Will Learn
Attendees will develop an understanding of:

The drivers for incorporating DfX into the product development process
Best practices in regard to component selection, component placement, and layout
How these practices need to be adjusted for different manufacturing processes, suppliers, use environments, and reliability expectations
How to implement DfX as part of internal design reviews
How to meet time-to-market deadlines and reduce warranty issues
Who Should Attend
Directors of Engineering, Quality / Reliability Managers, Circuit and Layout Designers, Reliability personnel, Designers, etc.

Course Schedule
Track 1 - DfX
Day 1: Design for Reliability (DfR) by Dr. Craig Hillman and Mike Silverman
Day 2: Design for Environment (DfE) by Dr. Randy Schueller
Day 3: Design for Manufacturability (DfM) by Cheryl Tulkoff
Day 4: Design for Testability (DfT) by Vaughan Carlson
Day 5 (am): Software Design for Reliability by Bob Mueller
Day 5 (pm): Design for Warrranty by Bob Mueller
Track 2 - ALT/RCA
Day 1-2: Best Accelerated Life Tests by Mike Silverman
Day 3-4: Root Cause Analysis (RCA) by Dr. Craig Hillman and Greg Swartz
Day 5: Design for Mechanical Reliability by Dr. Kim Parnell
Registration Prices
Two day courses: $1195
One day courses: $695
Half-day courses: $395
Group Discount: Every 5th registrant from the same company registering together is FREE! Unemployed receive a 25% discount and full-time students receive a 50% discount.

When and Where
DfX West
April 19-23, 2010
Pruneyard Plaza Hotel, Campbell, California (tentative)
DfX South
May 17-21, 2010
University of Alabama, Huntsville, Alabama (tentative)
DfX East
October 11-15, 2010
Courtyard by Marriott, Greenbelt, Maryland (tentative)

For additional details and registration, please click here.

Counterfeit Prevention and Detection Strategy

One of the limitations of the current conversation on counterfeits is the failure to identify a systematic approach to risk mitigation. By incorporating the probability of counterfeit exposure, the purchase volumes, and the cost of failure, this strategic tool can be used to identify the detection and avoidance techniques that provide the greatest return on investment. For more information, please contact Greg Caswell, gcaswell@dfrsolutions.com.