ERA Technology | Reliability and Failure Analysis News

Reliability and Failure Analysis News - Issue 2

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ERA wins photo competition

The Reliability and Failure Analysis business unit at ERA Technology has won first prize for a 'false colour' Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) picture of degradation occurring in a solder interface on a chip. The prize was awarded at the 28th International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis, in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

View the picture>>>

This image was produced using Oxford Instruments Cameo+.

Further information on Cameo+ (pdf) >>>

WEEE and RoHS directive texts finalised

The European Parliament and EU national governments have finally agreed the wording of these two impending directives which will ban the use of eight substances (including lead) in electronics from July 2006 and put the responsibility for product take back at end of life on producers. This will be a major item for discussion at the upcoming ERA conference on electronics recycling (see below). This is covered in the next issue of RE4view.

Sulphide contamination causes electronic failure

ERA has recently diagnosed failures in electronic devices due to interaction with low levels of gaseous sulphides - failures that caused both a financial impact to the manufacturers and safety issues with their customers. As components become ever smaller, the increasing area to size ratio could lead to this type of failure becoming more common. The sulphide contamination can have both environmental origins and sources internal to the electronic devices themselves. A typical result is the formation of sulphide below silicone polymer layers.

The RFA group has been invited to present a paper on this subject at an IEEE Workshop in November. Sulphide contamination will be featured in a future issue of “RFA News”.

Features

What is really inside your IC?

You may think that semiconductor devices with the same type number are identical. This is not necessarily true. In the course of investigating failures, ERA has found that supposedly identical devices are often completely different inside. Manufacturers may claim the same characteristics, but variations in chip dimensions and wire sizes could mean that some devices are more likely to fail under adverse conditions. If you are using a semiconductor device in a critical application, ERA can quickly examine and report on the internal structure of devices made by different manufacturers.

Further Information>>>

Feedback

Letter to the editor - cracking of chip capacitors

From Chris Noade of Syfer Technology (edited version)

Syfer Technology is a manufacturer of multilayer ceramic capacitors and EMI filters. We have investigated a problem that many major OEMs and CEMs have wrestled with - that of mechanical cracking of ceramic multilayer capacitors (from all manufacturers - not particularly Syfer!). This is due to stresses induced during the assembly stage (e.g. board break-out), but can have life-time and reliability implications if not picked up. These cracks may not initially show as test failures, but could lead to problems in use. For example, we are currently working with an automotive manufacturer to help overcome problems they have had with another capacitor manufacturer's components - i.e. the cars were set on fire!

There are a number of means of improving reliability, including improving assembly methods, and we have also developed a flexible capacitor termination to "widen the process window" and enhance reliability. Specifically it enables the user to bend the pcb almost twice as much before the capacitor will crack.

Further Information on Syfer Technology >>>

New publications

Reliability of electronics handbook - an illustrated guide to avoiding common failure mechanisms

Reliability problems can occur at all stages in the design, production and use phase of electronic equipment or component parts. This handbook is designed as a practical guide to the problems that users of electronic components and systems are likely to encounter and how to avoid them.

Further information >>>

Upcoming Events

Conference: Designing and Recycling Electrical and Electronic Equipment
Description: The WEEE (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and RoHS (Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances) became EU law in Febraury 2003.

Further information >>>

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