Electrical / Electronic Failure Analysis Laboratory
Various steps are performed during a electrical failure analysis investigation. Each step in our process (below) draws on multiple disciplines that utilize equipment furnished by the Materials Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
To learn how we can support your electrical or electronic failure analysis needs, please contact Peter Sjöblom.
Background information
- Material and processing specifications
- Service history
- Literature
- Digital photography
- Stereoscopic examination
- Optical microscopy (Nomarski)
Electrical Testing
- Transistor parametric testing
- Operational amplifier paramenterics
- Low/high frequency impedance measurements (RLC)
- Insulation resistance
- Logic analysis
- Contact resistance
- Data acquisition
- Novel instrumentation setups
- Surface resistance
- Dielectric breakdown voltage
Environmental Testing
- Vibration/shock
- Humidity
- High/low temperature
- Thermal shock
- Salt fog
- Radiography
- Acoustic
- Thermography
- Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
- Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)
- EBIC
Report Documentation
- Written and photographic documentation of results from investigation
- Conclusions
- Recommendations
Cracked solder joints on a printed wiring assembly
Dendritic growth on a printed wiring assembly
Corrosion sites on an analog integrated circuit
Instrument light that was illuminated at the moment of impact of an aircraft
Radiograph of a melted trace in an inner layer of a printed wiring assembly
Acoustic image of a void in a ceramic chip capacitor
Thermal image of loosely secured ring terminals
Normally closed, moving and stationary contacts showing cratering and hillocks
Metal migration due to heating of substrate resister
Energy dispersive spectroscopy of melted threads on a screw from a circuit breaker
Cross-section of a cracked solder joint filler