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edfas.org ELECTRONIC DEVICE FAILURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 22 NO. 3 54 GUEST COLUMNIST ELECTRONIC DEVICE FA IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 AND SOCIAL UNREST Nicholas Antoniou, Nova Measuring Instruments nicholas-a@novami.com I would like to take this opportunity towish you all health and safety as we navigate this difficult time. The adjust- ments we have made in a very short time are impres- sive and from a limited survey I conducted, a picture has emerged of how different organizations have adapted. In this column, I will share some of the innovative ways our industry has come upwith to stay operational and achieve business continuity. The obvious first step has been for us to work from home. But how can one operate an FA tool remotely? While it is rather difficult, here are some ways companies have dealt with it. In tech-centric places the infrastructure is up to the task of having us all conference in from home, exchange large data files, and for some operations, tools can be run remotely once set up and samples are loaded. Even in some of the hardest hit areas our industry has been deemed essential and authorities are allowing companies to designate a few employees who are permitted to work at the company facilities. In some cases, rotating shifts are created with three long days on and four days off. In Silicon Valley where I live and work, we are now alternat- ing 50/50 of employees so the office is at most occupied by half the employees. Inside the facilities, sanitizing stations, in some cases touch free, are readily available. Gloves (latex, rubber, etc.) are required when touching shared equipment. Social distancing is a must and with few employees on-site is easy to achieve. HEPA filters are no longer for cleanroomuse only (they have been growing in popularity for household uses for years) and are now being installed in some office ventila- tion systems. UV cleaners are also being considered to sanitize circulating air. Inmy experience, after the initial shock and some very long days, I was able to adjust and effectively work from home for most of the time, as did my colleagues. We now have the option to go to the office two days a week, so we struck a very good balance until the next phase. The service industry was hit much harder than our industry by this pandemic andmy heart goes out to those who have lost their jobs, businesses, and even worse. The new challenge that social unrest on top of the pandemic has presented us is yet more uncharted terri- tory that I am still trying to comprehend as I’m sure most of you are as well. Wedonot knowwhatwewill encounter in the later part of the year when ISTFA is typically held, so please check the ISTFA website for updates as the time approaches. I wish you all health and safety and can’t wait to see you on the other side of this crisis. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nicholas Antoniou received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electri- cal engineering from Texas A&M University. He spent the first half of his career in the design, test, debug, andmanufacture ofmicroprocessors at Motorola andRoss Technology. He then became the product manager for focused ion beam (FIB) systems and later was director of marketing for FEI Company. In 2009, Antoniou entered the academic world as the prin- cipal FIB engineer at the Center for Nanoscale Systems at Harvard University. In 2014, he returned to the semicon- ductor industry as the product manager for metrology systems at Nova Measuring Instruments. Nicholas has authored and co-authored dozens of articles and was published in Science magazine inApril 2013. He is currently editor of EDFA magazine.