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ELECTRONIC DEVICE FAILURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 19 NO. 1
A SUMMARY OF THE ISTFA 2016 PANEL DISCUSSION:
NEXT GENERATION OF FA ENGINEER
Frank Altmann
Fraunhofer IMWS, Halle, Germany
frank.altmann@fraunhofer.imws.deEDFAAO (2017) 1:33-34
1537-0755/$19.00 ©ASM International
®
A
failure analysis (FA) engineer’s core business is to
investigate and solve reliability problems of tech-
nologies for electronic applications by identifying
process variations and root causes of defects and by sug-
gesting corrective actions. An FA engineer must handle
multiple FA techniques for defect localization, prepara-
tion, and physical analysis with continuously increasing
complexity. In parallel, he needs sophisticated skills in
communication because he often acts as an intermedi-
ary between different parties (fab, design, test, customer,
etc.). Under theseaspects, the ISTFA2016Panel Discussion
was dedicated to the following topics:
• Howis a typical FA laborganized?Whichskills and levels
of education are required for a future FA engineer?
• How does one go from being a specialist in a certain
preparation or analysis method to being an experi-
enced FA engineer ready for customer meetings?
• Which internal/external trainingprograms are available
(face-to-face or online)?
• Where does the money and time come from that is
spent to become trained in FA?
The panel members were Professor Christian Boit,
Technische Universität Berlin; James Cargo, Broadcom
Ltd.; and Nebojša Janković, NXP Semiconductors. Each
panel member has a long history of experience in FAwork,
education, training, and lab management.
The Panel Discussion was introduced by Nebojša
Janković. He pointed out that a typical FA lab is orga-
nized by FA engineers as job owners being responsible
for performing hands-on electrical FA and physical char-
acterization, with the emphasis on software- and
hardware-based device fault localization. Only highly spe-
cialized investigations are done by dedicated engineers.
Standardized physical analysis steps are mostly done by
a technician crew. Strong preference should be given to
mixed-signal IC design, test, and layout understanding.
Furthermore, an FA engineer should have experiencewith
memory devices, especially nonvolatile options, as well
as reverse engineering skills, including ICprocess technol-
ogy knowledge. Responsibilities should include not only
the use of existing and available equipment, techniques,
and methods but also the development of new methods
and techniques. An FA engineer should be able to work
independently but also to cooperate with peer product,
test, design, and process engineers as well as customers.
In addition to technical skills, hemust also be a good team
player. AnFAengineer shouldbeeducated to theacademic
level of a Master’s or Ph.D. degree in technical sciences
and then must seek continuous learning and training.
With the experience and routine from internal customer
meetings, he also strengthens the communication skills
necessary to take care of end-customers’ needs. This can
be managed by additional coaching and mentoring on
the job, focused on having an outside view and an end-
customer’s perspective. A typical beginner learns the first
skills and tools internally on the job, beingmentored and
trained by an experienced FA engineer. External courses
must follow for certain specialized methods and tools.
After the introduction, an intense open discussion
began between the panelists and the audience. It was
discussed that FA spans a large breadth of topics and
educational disciplines, and almost no undergradu-
ate programs are available at universities. Linking to
“AN FA ENGINEER SHOULD BE EDUCATED
TO THE ACADEMIC LEVEL OF A MASTER'S
OR Ph.D. DEGREE IN TECHNICAL
SCIENCES AND THEN MUST SEEK
CONTINUOUS LEARNING AND TRAINING.”