Indium Blog

IPC Tin Whisker Conference Sheds New Light

Category:
  • Indium Corporation

  • Folks,

    I just returned from SMTA/INEMI’s Medical Conference in Milpitas (near San Jose/San Fransisco), where I spoke on Tin Whiskers. I then quickly traveled to Costa Mesa (400 miles south, near Los Angles), to IPCs Tin Whiskers/Reliability Conference,   where I spoke on Weibull Analysis.  Both shows where attended by 80-plus people.  

     

    Most noteworthy, at the IPC Tin Whiskers Meeting, was Raytheon's Dave Pinsky’s  presentation, titled: “Tin Whiskers at a Large Defense OEM: Past . Present, Future.”  In addition to discussing claims that some vendors have of producing whiskerless tin coatings and other topics, most helpful was his mention of a  report by  the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) on Tin Whisker Risk Mitigation.  This standard, GEiA-STD- 0005-2 discusses mitigation details thoroughly.  Not only has the knowledge of tin whiskers increased, there appears to be more confidence in coatings for mitigation.  However, in mission-critical applications, a well thought out, multiple mitigation approach to tin whiskers is still needed.

    The image above, taken by NASA, shows a tin whisker next to a human hair.  Tin whiskers are very thin indeed!

    Cheers,

    Dr. Ron