Preface

In November 2018, the ASM and International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis (ISTFA) Organizing Committees established the Failure Analysis (FA) Technology Roadmap at the direction of the Electronic Device Failure Analysis Society (EDFAS) Board. The mandate comprised of two parts: 1) leverage the technical expertise captured throughout the industry to identify both current and future FA challenges as part of an industry-wide gap analysis, and 2) engage with both equipment providers and academic labs to review and pursue potential solutions to these technical challenges.

The initial approach was to intercept the abstract review process at ISTFA and ask that the various session chairs work with their technical review teams to compile and organize a detailed list of challenges pertinent to their area of expertise. These lists, ranked in terms of criticality, were then screened by the FA Roadmap Committee and, where applicable, shared with leading vendors who were asked to provide feedback. Unfortunately, although that approach captured some key features, it offered limited technical detail and scope and did not initiate the impetus essential for such an effort across the community. The FA Roadmap therefore needed to grow roots within the community to secure interest, generate momentum, and extract maximum value. As a result, a revised infrastructure was created and approved by the EDFAS Board in which focused groups (or Councils) were formed and tasked to authenticate their respective technical gaps, communicate the narrative, and drive content creation. With this new structure, the FA Roadmap secured ownership across the community.

The FA Roadmap framework comprises of three Councils: Die-Level Roadmap Council (DLRC), Package Innovation Roadmap Council (PIRC), and FA Future Roadmap Council (FAFRC). To incorporate a common FA workflow, the DLRC hosts two separate domain teams: an Isolation Domain and Post-Isolation Domain. Each Council is directed by two Chairs and is supported by motivated subject-matter experts (i.e., committee members) who invest in accurately detailing relevant technical challenges while promoting active vendor/academic participation to explore and categorize potential solutions. While the DLRC and PIRC define the current technical challenges facing our community, the FAFRC is tasked with looking ahead to determine what may be coming next by surveying reputable industry roadmaps and reporting on related near-term developments/challenges that have a tangible five- to ten-year horizon.

The resulting industry-wide gap analyses and supporting technical reports per Council are published here and serve as our industry’s authority on the current technical challenges and concerns that impact our community. As the EDFAS FA Technology Roadmap General Chair, I encourage readers to digest this content then seek active engagement in this effort so you can interact and influence the shape of the FA Roadmap. It is critical we hear from our diverse FA community members on the challenges they face in the lab, the improvements they want to see, and the new technologies we should be evaluating and/or investing in. This is particularly important as we look to engage and collaborate with equipment providers, academic labs, and research institutes in the coming years as we explore potential solutions to these critical technology gaps.

I hope the FA Roadmap and the technical reports captured here will add value to everyone connected to the industry and I encourage you all to participate, learn, and prepare for the future.