Since its inception in 1984, the EMPF Helpline has fielded thousands of questions regarding many of the common and uncommon issues in the military and commercial electronics manufacturing industry. ACI supports the EMPF Helpline by utilizing the nation's top scientists, engineers, technicians, and instructors. With a diverse work force averaging 16 years of experience, 65% of all Helpline calls have been resolved within 24 hours or less.

Within the past two years, the Helpline has answered nearly 1700 calls with topics ranging from training to coatings as well as issues related to assembly and cleaning processes, component solderability and materials. As the chart to the right shows, data collected over the past two years illustrates a shift in the types of calls that are being received.

There was an increase in calls regarding training and educational services while experiencing a decline in calls concerning actual manufacturing issues. Questions concerning training comprised 44% of the total Helpline calls in 2002, more than doubling the percentage of calls from the previous year. This was likely a result of companies adopting a quality system for their manufacturing process. Assembly and rework standards, such as the criteria established by IPC, have forced organizations to certify their operators, inspectors and rework technicians. In addition, companies who have conducted their own training and certification programs in the past are being forced to make cuts in an effort to reduce overhead costs. The end result has seen businesses outsource any training required to meet the needs of their quality system. Some of the more popular classes offered at the EMPF include IPC-7711/7721, IPCA-610C and J-STD-001C certification-based training.

In 2001 however, the trend focused more towards the test and evaluation services offered by the EMPF. As much as 25% of the calls received that year were for failure analysis, spectroscopy, or reliability testing. Some of the most common evaluations involved the investigation of chip components and through-hole solder joints. These investigations often included scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and microsectioning. In 2002, the EMPF did not experience the same call volume for this area. Roughly 17% of the calls received last year were related to test and evaluations. The investigations performed at the EMPF were more diverse in scope, involving issues ranging from substrate delamination to solder joint fractures to component failures at the die level.

A number of automobile and aerospace electronics manufacturers contacted the EMPF Helpline this past year to solve contamination and corrosion problems. Techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ion chromatography (IC), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used to identify the contamination on assemblies, bare boards, components and conformal coatings. Corrosion and contamination found during these investigations have been shown to have devastating effects on the reliability of their assemblies by causing field failures and returns. This, in turn, has compromised the reputation and profitability of the companies involved.

The EMPF Helpline is a complimentary service providing support to the electronics manufacturing community. Whether you have a complex failure or a common electronics manufacturing defect, please call the Helpline at (610) 362-1320. You can also contact us via e-mail (helpline@aciusa.org) or visit us at our website ( www.empf.org ) and click on the "Helpline" link. Here you will find many of the common industry questions being asked as well as monthly case histories.