New avenues for failure analysis

As evidenced by the presentations at ICEFA-3, failure in electronics equipment has received little attention from the Failure Analysis Community. Electronics is the World’s largest industrial sector, fiercely competitive and facing challenges from environmental demands and continuous miniaturisation. The paper outlines the basic elements in electronic equipment, typical operating conditions, common defects and the likely modes of failure in service. It demonstrates the greater resilience required by solders than most traditional alloys at their peak operating temperatures. With rapidly changing technologies, employment of new alloy systems and dimensions such that properties can no longer be described by bulk measurements, it is contended that the scope for failure and failure analysis is significant and growing.