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ELECTRONIC DEVICE FAILURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 19 NO. 2
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are obtained to verify or reject the assumption. A mentor
may explain that “Don’t assume” refers to assumptions
that are hidden or disguised. The best example comes
from physical medicine. “I fell down and broke my hip”
hides an assumption. It would be a different problem if
the correct language was “My hip broke, and I fell down.”
There are many examples from electron FA. “The
device failed after two years on the shelf in inventory.”
An experienced analyst would avoid assumptions and
translate this to “The failure was detected after two years
in inventory.” There is a world of difference. There is no
reason to assume the device was “good” when it was put
in inventory. There is no reason to assume it was tested
after being put in inventory.
This is actually an example in problemdefinition. “The
lot of devices we bought five years ago passed all military
standard electrostatic discharge (ESD) requirements. The
most recent lot failed tomeet ESD requirements. Howhas
the fabricationprocess changed?”Only afterwastingeffort
on answering the questionwas the assumption detected.
Military standard ESD requirementswere in versionB. The
new lot was tested to version C. Different problem.
There are countless more examples of assumptions
that sneak into the “what, when, where, and how much”
that define an FA problem.
SUMMARY NOTE
It is a great time to be a failure analyst. There are new,
dedicated tools. Therearenewtechnologieswithassociat-
ed new challenges. Yet, all the old tools remain important
and cannot be forgotten. Surprising new applications for
old tools, or modified old tools, appear on a regular basis.
Now more than ever before, failure analysts are
recognized for their skill and are appreciated for their
contribution. And, now more than ever, EDFA magazine,
the ISTFA symposium, and local EDFAS chapters offer
unprecedented networking benefits.
For thosewho choose FA as a specialty, welcome. Your
successes in solving newproblems and advancing the tool
base will bring great satisfaction. I have one bit of advice:
Share your success by writing for EDFA and presenting at
ISTFA. The FA community and your career will benefit.
REFERENCES
1. F. Altmann: “A Summary of the ISTFA 2016 Panel Discussion: Next
Generation of FA Engineer,” Electron. Dev. Fail. Anal., Feb. 2017,
19(1), pp. 33-34.
2. C. Keptner and B. Tregoe: The Rational Manager, McGraw-Hill Book
Company, New York, 1965.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Burgess is a failure analyst
and reliability engineer. He devel-
oped techniques and taught in those
areas at Fairchild Semiconductor and
Hewlett-Packard. He is the founder of
Accelerated Analysis, a manufacturer
and distributor of specialty failure
analysis tools. David is the co-author
of Wafer Failure Analysis for Yield Enhancement. A graduate
of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and San Jose State
University, he is a member of EDFAS and has served on
various ISTFA committees. David is aSenior LifeMember of
IEEE andwas General Chairman of the 1983 International
Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS).
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