Standard of Excellence: Speed vs. Quality in Customer Service
Knocking Down the Bone Pile: Revamp Your Components with BGA Reballing
Global Sourcing Spotlight: Balancing Speed and Flexibility Without Sacrificing Control
DfR Solutions Wins IPC APEX EXPO Innovation Award
March 6, 2018 | DfR SolutionsEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
DfR Solutions' newest version of its Sherlock Automated Design Analysis Software version 5.4 with temperature-based FEA has been awarded an IPC APEX EXPO Innovation Award. The IPC APEX EXPO Innovation Awards have been created to honor outstanding products and services for the electronics industry. The award was presented to DfR Solutions at IPC APEX EXPO during John Mitchell’s keynote on Wednesday, February 28, 2018.
About Sherlock’s Temperature-Based FEA
In extreme environments like aerospace and automotive, electronics reliability is critical to the performance of the product and the safety of its users. Available this March, the new temperature-based FEA capability, will enable users to simulate boards experiencing thermal and vibrational stresses sequentially, modeling to real-world conditions where products are exposed to many stressors simultaneously.
As part of the award submission, DfR Solutions answered the following questions:
How is this product innovative?
Sherlock Automated Design Analysis Software is the only physics of failure (POF) based electronics design reliability analysis tool that analyzes and predicts product failure before it happens. Continually evolving, this version of Sherlock allows users to predict not only board-level but component-level reliability and make critical lifetime predictions based on real-world conditions. This is crucial to industries like automotive and aerospace that operate in extreme environments.
How is this product impacting the industry?
Sherlock is being used by Fortune 100 companies across all industries to streamline and accelerate new product development, saving time, money, reducing cost, and increasing customer satisfaction. Sherlock is quickly becoming the tool that is required by major manufacturers throughout their supply chain.
"We are thrilled to be receiving this prestigious award from IPC APEX," said Dr. Craig Hillman, CEO of DfR Solutions. "Technology is everywhere, and it keeps getting smaller, hotter, and faster. As that happens, traditional standards-based reliability methods are becoming obsolete and modern physics of failure tools are becoming more important. The Sherlock team here is continuously working on new ways to expand its capabilities and address the ever-changing and increasingly complex challenges in electronics design," stated Hillman.
About the Innovation Awards Program
The IPC APEX EXPO Innovation Awards program recognizes two levels of honorees among the following categories:
- PCB Design
- PCB Fabrication
- Assembly
- Test & Inspection
- Services
Products and services are reviewed, rated and scored by a panel of industry experts. There are two award designations: Honoree: A product or technology that scores above the threshold set for a specific category and Best of Innovation: Given to only the highest-rated product or technology in each category.
About Sherlock Automated Design Analysis Software
Sherlock is the first-of-its-kind Automated Design Analysis software for analyzing, grading, and certifying the expected reliability of products at the circuit card assembly level. Based on the science of Physics of Failure, it is used by the electronics industry across all markets. Sherlock continues to evolve, incorporating new innovations and enhancements allowing users to manage increasingly complex analyses faster and more efficiently than ever before. To see sherlock in action, attend the 2018 Design for Reliability Conference, March 19-21, in Baltimore MD.
About DfR Solutions
DfR Solutions has world-renowned expertise in applying the science of Reliability Physics to electrical and electronics technologies and is a leading provider of quality, reliability, and durability (QRD) research and consulting for the electronics industry. The company’s integrated use of Physics of Failure (PoF) and Best Practices provides crucial insights and solutions early in product design and development and throughout the product life cycle. DfR Solutions specializes in providing knowledge- and science-based solutions to maximize and accelerate the product integrity assurance activities of their clients in every marketplace for electronic technologies (consumer, industrial, automotive, medical, military, telecom, oil drilling, and throughout the electronic component and material supply chain). For more information regarding DfR Solutions, click here.
Share on:
Testimonial
"We’re proud to call I-Connect007 a trusted partner. Their innovative approach and industry insight made our podcast collaboration a success by connecting us with the right audience and delivering real results."
Julia McCaffrey - NCAB GroupSuggested Items
Henger Microelectronics Expands Global Footprint with Major Equipment Shipment to Southeast Asia
10/31/2025 |Henger Microelectronics has reached a major milestone in its global expansion strategy with the successful shipment of advanced plasma etching and cleaning systems, along with automation equipment, to multiple countries and regions across Southeast Asia. This achievement marks a significant step forward in the company’s international growth and reinforces its position as a leading force in the global plasma equipment industry.
TTCI Brings Hands-On Test Engineering and IPC Training Expertise to PCB Carolina 2025
10/31/2025 | The Test Connection Inc.The Test Connection Inc. (TTCI), a trusted provider of electronic test and manufacturing solutions, and The Training Connection LLC (TTC-LLC) will exhibit at PCB Carolina on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at the McKimmon Center at NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Attendees can visit Table 4 to say hello to Bert Horner and Bill Graver, and learn more about their test engineering services and technical training programs.
Cephia Secures $4M Seed Funding to Revolutionize Multimodal Sensing with Metasurface Technology
10/31/2025 | PRNewswireCephia, a startup building products using advanced AI computational imaging technologies and silicon sensors made from advanced metamaterials, formally launched with several pilot customers and $4 million in seed venture capital funding.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
10/31/2025 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007Last week, the IMPACT conference took place in Taipei, bringing together advanced packaging experts from around the globe to share their knowledge. We’ll be bringing you post-conference coverage over the next few weeks, so look for that in our newsletters, and in the Advanced Electronic Packaging Digest. Other news seemed to have the U.S. at the center of the global discussions. My picks start in Phoenix, where TSMC, NVIDIA, and Amkor are all scrambling to establish new capabilities. There’s nothing like a strong demand signal to cause build-out, and AI chips are doing exactly that.
NEDME 2025 Draws Strong Northwest Crowd, Builds on Tradition of Regional Collaboration
10/31/2025 | NEDMEThe NW Electronics Design & Manufacturing Expo (NEDME) 2025 once again brought together the Pacific Northwest community for a full day of learning, networking, and industry connections.