Dr. Jennie Hwang to Address 'Preventing Product Failure' at the 2019 International Symposium on Microelectronics

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Dr Jennie S. Hwang leverages decades of extensive real-world experiences and deep knowledge to address “Preventing Product Failure.”  With the goal to produce reliable products while achieving high yield production, this short course focuses on two of likely product failure processes that are induced or aggravated by time, temperature and/or stress—intermetallic compounds and tin whisker.

Intermetallic compounds (IMCs) play an increasingly critical role to the performance and reliability of solder interconnections in the chip level, package level and board level of lead-free electronics. Relevant and important aspects of intermetallic compounds (scientific fundamentals and practical application scenarios) will be discussed. The course also examines the presence and formation of IMCs before, during and after solder joint formation (in storage and service), and the IMCs at-interface and in-bulk (contributing from packages and board surface finish coating) in relation to product reliability.

Concerns about tin whisker have been intensifying recently, although the potential issues of tin whisker have been recognized for more than six decades in electronic, electrical and industrial applications. Metal “whiskering” is an intricate, atomic level process. While understanding of tin whisker has advanced, yet the myth exists. A holistic coverage, from practical perspectives, of important aspects of tin whisker will be outlined; mitigating the risk by considering the factors that affect tin whisker growth and examining the preventive and remedial solutions will be emphasized. The distinctions of tin whisker from metal dendrites, electro-migration, tin pest and other processes, as well as the practical tin whisker criteria for reliability implications in both SnPb and lead-free environments will be highlighted.

Practical tin whisker criteria for reliability implications in the lead-free environment and the relative effectiveness and the order of priority in mitigating measures will be ranked.

The short course emphasizes on practical, working knowledge, yet balanced and substantiated by science. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own selected systems for deliberation.

To register, click here.

For more information contact bschieman@imaps.org

B3: “PREVENTING PRODUCT FAILURE”

Main topics:

• Role of intermetallic compounds vs. product reliability
• Intermetallic compounds—definition, fundamentals, characteristics;
• Phase diagrams of Pb-free solders in contrast with SnPb;
• Intermetallic compounds in the intrinsic material- Pb-free vs. SnPb;
• IMCs formation and growth during production process and in product service life;
• Different types of intermetallic compounds—effects on solder joint reliability;
• Intermetallic compounds—at-interface vs. in-bulk;
• IMCs—effects from substrate compositions (hybrid module thick film pads, PCB surface finish) plus component surface coating;
• Tin whisker vs. tin pest vs. dendrites;
• Whisker-resistant vs. whisker-proof;
• Tin whisker—definition, clarification, reference point;
• Tin whisker—physical phenomena, causes and factors;
• Tin whisker—concerns, reliability implications, testing challenges;
• Tin whisker—mitigation remedies, relative effectiveness, plausible theory;
• Summary—product reliability, principles, best practices.

About the Speaker

Dr. Hwang, a pioneer and long-standing leader in lead-free electronics, brings her 35+ years SMT manufacturing experience coupled with her sustained 25+ years lead-free R&D and hands-on production implementation to the courses. She has been a major contributor to the implementation of Surface Mount manufacturing since its inception through hands-on production and as an advisor to OEMs, EMS and U.S. Dept. of Defense. She has provided solutions to many challenging problems, ranging from production yield to field failure diagnosis to most challenging reliability issues.  Her work covers both commercial and military applications.