Reliability in electronic systems is important, whether you are designing, making, selling or using equipment. ERA Technology has many decades of experience in identifying the causes of problems from product down to component level. We provide impartial, expert, fast diagnosis of problems from design through to use and failure in the field and work with you to find a solution.

Where reliability problems arise
There are many situations where having further information can not only solve reliability problems, but significantly save time, cost and reduce commercial risk. Here are some typical cases which ERA regularly investigates:

	production stoppages threatening costly delays and losses
	field returns, where it is essential to know whether the fault is due to design, assembly or use
	conflicting insurance/legal claims
	assessing new production techniques
	checking whether components are counterfeit or below acceptable quality
	analysing a supply chain to locate the source of a fault
	assessing the quality of manufacture
	determining whether a series of faults are due to a batch of components or a change in a process
	assessing when there should be a product recall.

Our services
ERA advises every industry using or manufacturing electronics from aerospace and automotive to underground railways, equipment for medical and domestic use to IT infrastructure. Analysis of thousands of cases over more than three decades at ERA has generated an invaluable accumulation of experience - experience that can help you understand the root cause of any reliability problem and help avoid costly repetitions.

ERA offers a range of services:
	failure analysis: a practical approach to failure from whole equipments down to all active and passive electronic components and providing you with an analysis of faults, conclusions on the mechanism of failure, identification of the stage at which it occurred, and recommendations on correction and how to prevent repetition.
	design review: assessment of the electronic design or build quality of a product, subassembly or component.
	technical review: state-of-the-art reviews of particular technologies - previous examples include high temperature electronics, non-volatile memories, and electronics for use in satellites.
	expert witness and investigations to support legal actions: Technical evidence often clarifies who is at fault and how. ERA works for solicitors, companies and courts providing expert witness statements and reports to support claims. These can be for a single party or joint expert witness situations.
	financial loss engineering support: while the direct causes of failure and unreliability are technical, often it is the underlying issues such as adequacy of design and design process, fault, consequential and financial losses which are of central importance. ERA deploys its technical capability to provide evidence to support claims, help quantify costs etc.

How products fail
Continuing improvement of the reliability of electronics has led to the expectation that they will never fail. The result is a greater pressure to correct problems when they do occur, and to prevent repetition. There are numerous potential reasons why even the best systems or components can fail, for example:

	thermal/mechanical stress: can cause many types of failure including internal breaks. Broken wire in inductor imaged using microfocus x-rays (click on image to enlarge)
	contamination, migration and wear: contamination can be introduced during manufacture or during use, migration can occur under electrical, for example and be exacerbated by heat and moisture. Worn electrical contact (click on image to enlarge)
	poor soldering: Examination of solder joints and wetting to assess the solder processing, for example on lead-free joints. Micro-section through a lead-free solder joint, showing poor wetting to the pin but good wetting to the edge of the hole and cracks formed during a thermal cycling test. (click on image to enlarge)
	fire: even when the fire has burnt away the region causing the fire, it is still often possible to find the relevant features and point out the probable cause. Typical fire damage to surface of PCB. (click on image to enlarge)
	electrical overstress: can cause melting, breakdown, oxidation and other effects. SEM image of a fused bond wire to a power MOSFET. (click on image to enlarge)

For more information see Further Information and Case Studies in the top right menu.

ERA’s structured approach to failure analysis
ERA employs a multidisciplinary team from diverse backgrounds and with many years experience of diagnosing reliability and failure problems but using a consistent methodology. Electronic products and components are analysed by a careful sequence to ensure that all the evidence is obtained and correctly used to assess the cause of failure. The sequence includes:

	data collection. It is crucial that all samples, fault reports, construction and use information is saved and presented for examination.
	non-destructive tests. These include external inspection, electrical measurement and probes such as X-rays. X-ray image of Ball grid array (click image to enlarge)
	package opening. Techniques used include mechanical (e.g. micro-sectioning) and chemical (e.g. jet) etching to decapsulate ICs. This must be done with care to avoid excessive damage to the inner parts. Diode chip after removing the top of the case (click image to enlarge)
	internal examination. This includes use of a variety tools including:
		optical microscopy Failure due to poor alignment of surface mount device (click image to enlarge)
		scanning electron microscopy wire bonding inside IC package (click image to enlarge)
		infrared spectroscopy Identification and analysis using infrared spectroscopy (click image to enlarge)
		ion chromatography
		thermal analysis (e.g. TGA, DSC) Organic contaminant in polymer found using DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) (click image to enlarge)
	establishing root cause and testing of failure mechanisms. A hypothesis for the mechanism is developed and assessed against the available evidence and previous experience. The theory may be tested by deliberate introduction to a new sample.

The mode and position of the failure is often conclusive in indicating where responsibility lies and where corrective action is required.
For more information see Further Information and Case Studies in the top right menu.