The EMPF Learning Center offers a Failure Analysis course tailored specifically to address the most prevalent electronics manufacturing and packaging issues. The objective of this three day class is to prepare the participants to make informed decisions when trouble shooting a manufacturing problem or when collaborating with an analytical laboratory. The skills learned in this class are beneficial to materials and process engineers, manufacturing engineers, quality control engineers, and managers. Attendees are encouraged to bring sample problems from their companies to use as examples for the case studies.

Both the novice and experienced participants can benefit from a failure analysis course, even those that do not deal with failure analysis directly. Failure analysis engineers learn industry proven techniques and methods for deter-mining the cause and the remedy for a number of electronics manufacturing related issues. Quality control engineers, manufacturing engineers, managers, and technicians that either perform failure analysis or collaborate with analytical labs gain knowledge that can be used to improve their product or manufacturing process. The class is designed to provide an excellent learning experience that relates directly to the students needs and level of experience.

A broad range of failure analysis and reliability issues are covered in this course. The program is based on IPC, ANSI, ASM, ASTM, ISTFA, EDFAS, and IEEE test methods and specifications. Because the instructors work in the EMPF failure analysis lab and manufacturing process facilities, they have extensive knowledge of current manufacturing issues, resulting in productive Q&A sessions. Participants will gain exposure to the following:

• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Optical microscopy
• Decapsulation of integrated circuits
• Probe station and micro-probing of circuits (new)
• RF plasma etching (new)
• Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM)
• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
• Transmission X-ray
• Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
• Shear / pull testing
• Solderability Testing
• X-ray fluorescence (XRF) (new)

Lead-free issues and analysis techniques are new areas that have been added to the curriculum. The need to convert a design to lead-free is driven by environmental legislation passed in Europe. However, to convert a product from tin lead to lead-free is not straight forward, causing quality control, manufacturing, and failure analysis engineers to seek out new knowledge and techniques to properly deal with manufacturing and analysis issues. The EMPF's Failure Analysis class reviews the failure and reliability issues involved in lead-free soldering. Students are taught how to properly identify tin whiskers and improve reliability through material selection. Students learn sample preparation, microstructure, and evaluation techniques specific to lead free solders, components, and surface finishes.

The EMPF's Failure Analysis class also introduces students to XRF analysis and shows them how to use it to screen incoming products for lead. The need to efficiently identify banned substances, such as lead in surface finishes, has led to an increased interest in elemental analysis techniques such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF). This non-intrusive and non-destructive measurement method has been in use in electronic manufacturing facilities for years, primarily to measure the composition and thickness of surface plating and coatings. Recent strides in XRF technology have improved efficiency, precision, and have lowered the cost of ownership making elemental analysis by X-ray fluorescence a popular tool for elemental analysis.

Coupled with the lab exercises, the class includes scheduled time to address specific problems encountered by the students at their workplace. The three-day course layout provides an excellent format for comprehensive under-standing of the subject. Each student walks away from the course with a better understanding of manufacturing related issues as well as text that will aid in resolving further failure analysis issues.

For more information on this or any other course offered by the EMPF Learning Center, please contact the registrar at (610)362-1320, or via email at registrar@empf.org