Photonics West Show - Going on now

Daniel and Margaret are there, along with Jeff Day, President of CalRamic.  Here are a few photos....The exhibit is at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.  Stop by for a visit - Booth 5323

Writing Failure Analysis Reports - Oh Joy!

One of the more unpleasant aspects of engineering is having to occasionally perform a failure analysis on a returned part and then write a Failure Analysis Report (FAR) about it.

When a customer returns a part, it means it was non-compliant in some way. Maybe it didn’t meet the mechanical specifications, maybe it shorted out electrically, or maybe the cause for return was cosmetic in nature. Maybe even there was nothing wrong with the part – it met all the specs – but didn’t work properly in the customer’s application.

From an engineering point of view, a returned part means the customer is probably unhappy, or concerned about additional failures you may or may not be aware of. If it left your factory, then the part failed in your customer’s system, or their customer’s system, or somewhere ‘in the field’. Many times there is more than one part, maybe they’re stockpiled somewhere, or the customer has a large inventory on hand.

Often there is a lot of pressure to get it right in determining the cause of failure, and chances are, you might be feeling overwhelmed. Many times there is a lack of information about operating conditions in the field, how the part was being used, or even how it failed. Unknown conditions like voltage transients can be particularly tricky, as can any intermittent condition. Trying to figure all that out is part of writing a FAR.

Keeping in mind the humorous aspects of human nature, not all engineers approach the analysis in the same way. Some are determined to prove the design is good, and the customer just misused or broke the device. Others assume the design or manufacture was inherently flawed. Most of the time, the truth is somewhere in the middle, and in the end, has to be substantiated by ‘the facts’.

Either way, the goal is to keep the customer happy. Sometimes that means writing Failure Analysis Reports and making sure the parts never break again. Painful as they may be, once in a while, good things come out of FARs.  Sometimes they spur a new revision on an old design, or a new design, and sometimes a re-examination of the manufacturing process or raw materials.  And that can be a good thing!

What was your worst ever Failure Analysis experience?

Going to the Photonics West Show Next Week?

If you're in San Francisco next week at the Photonics West show, stop by Booth 5323 and chat with Daniel or Margaret.  The show goes from Jan 24th through Jan 26th. 

Look for us!

Increase the Recovery Softness of Fast High-Voltage Diodes

The January issue of Bodo's Power Systems (pg. 30-pg. 37) features an article on how to increase the recovery softness of fast high voltage silicon diodes - diodes up to 1kVrwm.  Very good technical discussing that takes into consideration factors such as wafer thickness, carrier life time, and such.

Are Pb-free Processes and Products Worth the Effort?

Here is a link to an interesting discussion on whether the move towards Pb-free products and manufacturing processes were worth it.   

The article is from ECN magazine and discusses the opinion of whether replacing Sn/Pb solder with Pb-free solder was worth the effort in terms of measurable environment benefits. 

Decide for yourself.

High Temperatures and Semi-conductors

Great article on high temperature semi-conductor solutions for down-hole applications....

This article discusses the various temperature extremes needed for down-hole applications, and addresses which type of semi-conductors work best for certain conditions.

Sales Seminar - April 2012

Update - The Sales Seminar has been postponed.  We hope to have a firm date by 2012 3Q.  We apologize for any problems this may have caused you. 

Only Seven (7) months until the 2012 Sales Seminar! It will be five (5) years since we were altogether in 2007 and all of us at VMI and CalRamic are looking forward to seeing everyone and a informative exciting time in April.

Location Information

Who: All VMI USA and International Representatives

When: April 12th arrival- April 15th Departures 2012

Where: Visalia Marriott Hotel
Phone: (559) 636-1111 Fax: (559) 636- 2285

Dress: Business casual / Friday evening dinner Business attire

Preliminary Agenda

Arrivals: Thursday April 12, 2012 and Evening Welcome Reception

Friday April 13, 2012
Breakfast
VMI Plant Tour
Sales Meeting
Evening Dinner

Saturday April 14, 2012

Breakfast
Sales Meeting
Luncheon
Saturday afternoon- Activity 
Saturday Evening Dinner

Sunday April 15, 2012 Departures

What we need from All of you

We need your confirmed reservations NO later than March 1, 2012.

To make the Sales Seminar successful VMI and CalRamic need to know what All of you would like information on at the Seminar. Please provide your suggestions on topics to discuss by December 1, 2011 or sooner.

If you have any technical issues you want addressed specifically please let our engineer Daniel Deschenes (ddeschenes@voltagemultipliers.com) know so he can organize and present the information you want and care about.

VMI and Calramic engineers will be happy to help you with individual questions, but any information or topic you think would help others is appreciated. Our engineers want to help you sell our products with accurate technical information and rapid and precise information. Help us help you!

More information will be provided as we move closer to April 2012.

Thank you!