Reliability Matters

Electricity is the life blood for all circuit assemblies. It can also afflict significant damage via electrostatic discharge. My guest, Christopher Almeras of Raytheon reviews the various ESD mitigation strategies as well as some ESD horror stories!

Christopher Almeras began his career in process engineering for a small electronics manufacturer in the late 1990s. There he became responsible for the sites ESD compliance verification. His next career move took him to a high-volume manufacturer where he added ESD Coordinator to his process duties. He eventually made the jump into the Military/Aerospace side of electronics manufacturing (with Raytheon) in 2010 where he has remained working in process, capital installations, continuous improvement, and ESD.

In 2009, Christopher completed his ESD Certified Program Manager from the ESDA. He serves as a member on several ESD Association standards committees including S20.20, TR53, Process Assessment, High Reliability, Electrostatic Attraction among others. In 2022 he took over the working group chair for Soldering/Desoldering Hand Tools.

Christopher was elected to the ESD Association Board of Directors and continues to be active with the ESD Symposium each year. In 2018 he presented his technical paper “An ESD Case Study of Defect Analysis in High Speed Electronics Manufacturing” at the symposium.

Christopher earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and an MS in Industrial Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He is an
ESD Certified Program Manager (ESDA).

Christopher may be contacted here:
[email protected]
https://www.lonestaresd.com

During this episode, I referenced the following:
Reliability Matters Episode 104: A Conversation about ESD Flooring with Thomas Ricciardelli
https://youtu.be/peyNVuE7Ink

4 Easy Ways to BLOW UP Your Test Gear
Daniel Bogdanoff - Keysight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDvue5whx0s

Historically, circuit assemblies are rigid devices. IoT (Internet of Things) has opened up the opportunity to embed electronics into a near limitless array of form factors. Some of these form factors require the electronic assembly to be flexible such as in wearable and medical applications.

To complicate matters, The metal conductors on the assembly are rigid, and not flexible or malleable. That may change with the adoption of liquid metals. We were all exposed to the concept of liquid metal in the 1991 film Terminator 2. Will science fiction become reality?

My guest today is Dr. Michael Dickey. Michael is currently the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at NC State University.

Michael Dickey received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a PhD from the University of Texas. From 2006-2008 he was a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Professor George Whitesides at Harvard University. Michael completed a sabbatical at Microsoft in 2016. Michael’s research interests include soft matter (liquid metals, gels and polymers) for soft and stretchable devices (electronics, energy harvesters, textiles, and soft robotics), and hopefully, for the sake of humanity, not liquid metal T1000 villains.

Dr. Michael Dickey's Contact Information:
[email protected]

Link to Michael Dickey's TED-X Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfUnK_rME8E

On this episode, there are no guests, and no specific topics. I would like to use this opportunity to thank my guests, our syndication partners, and, of course, my audience for making this podcast so successful. We have a full season ahead in 2023 and I'm excited to share those episodes with you. Please keep your questions and topics suggestions coming. Send them to [email protected].

A huge shout-out to my 2022 guests:
Joel Scutchfield
Brian O'Leary
Tony Lentz
Mike Adamson
Greg Papandrew
Kevin Huo
Michelle Ogihara
Marco Sanchez
Colin Harper
Dr. Kunal Shah
Dr. Ron Laskey
Jim Hall
Claire Hotvedt
Tom Watson
Phil Zarrow
Keith Bryant
Dr. David Bernard
David Kruidhof
Robert Boguski
Jen Fijalkowski
Graham Naisbitt
Matt Kelly
David Raby
Ed Stone
Thomas Ricciardelli
Dr. Martin Anselm
Julie Silk
Raiyo Aspandiar
David Greenman
Michael Mchale
Randy Cherry
Dr. Chuck Bauer
David Graham

Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution. Beyond the buzzwords, what does this mean? My guest today is David Graham, Chief Technology Officer of 4IR.UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of Internet of Things focused, British Systems.

4IR.UK specializes in creating Monitoring, Control and Automation solutions, often based on the MultiPlug Edge Computing Platform, for manufacturing environments. They also provide consultancy and development for other Industry 4.0 platforms.

I was intrigued by a webinar presented by David entitled “A Decade of Industry 4.0 – What it Wasn’t, What it Was", and today, I spoke with David about his thoughts, experiences, and opinions of Industry 4.0.

David's Contact Info:
David Graham
[email protected]
www.4ir.uk

Welcome back to another episode of the reliability matters podcast. For those who are counting, this is episode number 108. SMTA is well known for producing high-quality relevant technical conferences and symposiums. This includes, among others, the technical conference held at SMTAI, the High reliability cleaning and coating conference, the symposium on counterfeit parts and materials, the Advanced Electronics Assembly Conference, the Wafer-Level Packaging Symposium, the Electronics in harsh environments conference, and, perhaps my favorite, the Pan Pacific microelectronics symposium, often referred to as PanPac.

PanPac is unique in many ways beginning with its venue. PanPac is held annually at one of the Hawaiian islands. This fact alone makes this symposium stand out. But there are many other factors that make this symposium unique. Let me quote from PanPac’s steering committee:

The Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium strives to build bridges and nurture relationships across all boundaries; oceans and cultures, industries and technologies, companies and individuals. Its location in Hawaii always provides the requisite isolation from day to day distractions necessary to support these goals and enhance personal face to face interactions. The Pan Pacific continues its mission of building the vision and future directions for the electronics industry!

PanPac 2023 is scheduled for January 30 - February 2, 2023
At the Sheraton Kauai Resort on the beautiful island of Kauai.

While I love attending technical conferences and symposiums just for the educational opportunity, PanPac there’s just something special about this conference. While all conferences provide an element of networking, I have forged many new relationships, friendships, and collaborative agreements with fellow attendees and speakers. Perhaps it has something to do with being on a tropical island for a few days with like-minded people. To talk more about the upcoming Pan Pacific microelectronics symposium, I invited to colleagues who are instrumental in curating the technical contact for this symposium. Dr. Chuck Bauer, one of the original creators of this symposium and Keith Bryant join me to discuss the conferences technical tracks and
presentations as well as their view on what makes this conference unique.

More Information:
https://smta.org/mpage/panpac/

Like most manufacturers, the electronic manufacturing industry relies on countless suppliers to fulfill its manufacturing needs. I'm quite certain there is no one within the EMS space who fabricates their own boards using materials produced in house, operates their own semiconductor foundries, designs and manufacturers their own components, and produces soldering materials for their reflow process. Our industry relies on a vast network of manufacturers throughout the world to build even the simplest electronic assembly.

Intellectual property security, cyber security, national security, are all hot topics today. No one wants their hard-earned intellectual property stolen. This is most true within The US military establishment. There are, at present, numerous policies, procedures, and regulations designed to protect various parts of our supply chain from unscrupulous people and companies.

Today, companies are concerned about “controlled unclassified information” (CUI) and “controlled technical information” (CTI). That brings us to IPC-1791. What is IPC-1791? My guest today, IPC’s Randy Cherry will explain.

Randy is Director of Validation Services at IPC. Validation Services is a series of certification programs that qualify products and processes to the IPC industry standards.

Once companies have completed their certification they are listed as an IPC Trusted Supplier on the IPC Validation Services website.

Randy has over 30 years experience in Engineering with Printed Circuit Board and Backplane fabs, High-Speed Pressfit Backplane Connectors, and SMT (Surface Mount Technology) Assembly practices. He is a certified SMT Process Engineer and an IPC Auditor, and, he's my guest today on this episode.

Randy's Contact Info:
Randy Cherry | Director, Validation Services
IPC
3000 Lakeside Drive, Suite 105 N,
Bannockburn, IL 60015
Office: +1 847-597-2806
Mobile: +1 630-470-4721
[email protected]
www.ipc.org
www.ipc.org/validation

It's been said, on this show, that one key factor to international competitiveness is automation. While labor rates vary widely across the world, automation helps to level the field.

My guest today is Michael Mchale, CEO of Production Systems Automation, otherwise known as PSA. Michael graduated from Drexel University with a BS degree in mechanical engineering.

Just to put our upcoming conversation into context, it's helpful to know that PSA is a privately owned engineering and custom manufacturing firm founded in 1985, with three locations in Pennsylvania. They are experienced as a turnkey systems integrator, providing solutions for capital projects including, but not limited to; flexible robotic solutions, custom automated machinery, drives and controls & custom PLC projects. They also offer a line of standard products developed for industry specific customers.

They are a robotic systems integrator at heart, representing leading global robotic OEM’s. I say all this not to endorse or promote a particular company but rather put my guest’s comments into context. I am pleased to welcome Michael McHale to our show.

Michael's Contact Info:
Michael McHale
[email protected]
https://www.psasystems.com/

A new episode of the Reliability Matters Podcast is now available.

Episode 105: Conformal Coating Material Selection Best Practices

Today, we’re diving into conformal coating best practices. With the explosion of IOT, the electrification of vehicles, and the miniaturization of circuit assemblies and associated components, many of which are operating in harsh environments, the need for conformal coating has never been greater.

Coating your assemblies? Where does one start? What material should one choose? Should it be applied in-house or through a contract-coating house? What are the best practices in materials selection, application, inspection, and thickness? So many questions!

To answer these and other questions, I invited a conformal coating expert to speak with me and hopefully shed some light on this subject.

My guest today is David Greenman.

David began his career in the conformal coating business working at Concoat, first distributing Humiseal products and eventually manufacturing them under license for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. After 25 years of distributing, then manufacturing Humiseal products under license, Chase Corp, which owns Humiseal purchased Concoat where David serves as Director of Humiseal UK, Europe, and India where he is responsible for Corporate Responsibility as well as supporting HumiSeal sales and technical teams.

Earlier in David’s career, he qualified as a Radio, TV/Electronics Engineer and became a member of The Society of Radio and Electronics Technicians that was eventually absorbed into The Institution of Engineering and Technology, of which he is still a member.

Surface Mount Technology International 2022 is quickly approaching. My guests today are SMTA President Dr. Martin Anselm, a Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Technical Committee members Julie Silk of Keysight Technologies and Raiyo Aspandiar of Intel. Together, my guests review the technical conference tracks as well as special events taking place at the Expo.

Surface Mount Technology International
Conference: October 31st- November 3rd
Exposition: November 2nd-3rd
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
*Co-located with MD&M Minneapolis
For more detailed information on SMTAI, visit:
https://smta.org/mpage/smtai/

Modern electronics assembly has seen so many changes over the years. In today’s era of IOT, the electrification of vehicles, the explosion in the use of bottom terminated components, the increasing implementation of electronics into harsh environments have all contributed to the increasing complexity and difficulty of building electronics. While so much has changed, there are some things that have remained the same.
 
One such thing is the need for ESD control. There always was and continues to be the challenge of protecting components from the dangers of static electricity. My guest today is Thomas Ricciardelli, Founder and CEO of SelecTech, a manufacturer of ESD flooring for the electronics assembly industry.

Tom is also the Chairman of the Flooring Committee of the EOS/ESD Association. Tom earned a Masters in Chemical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the MIT Slone School of Management and today, he’s my guest on the podcast.

Contact Info:
Thomas Ricciardelli
Founder and CEO
SelecTech
[email protected]
https://selectech.com/