ASTR 2007:

Dear ASTR 2007 Participant,

 

Welcome to the IEEE CPMT ASTR2007 Workshop. It is a well established and a highly reputable forum for reliability and quality engineers like us: very down-to-earth and practical, yet using and advancing state-of-the-art methods and techniques to create viable and reliable products and systems. The ASTR workshops have existed (and been extremely successful) for about thirteen years. Reliability engineering is my field, and I participate in many reliability related conferences worldwide. I can state with certainty that ASTR’s are unique and, in their field and approach, definitely the best. I am pleased and honored that I am able to contribute to, and learn from, the ASTR’s.  They are workshops, indeed, in that they are aimed at the active participation and active interaction of all the participants. There are no “teachers” or “learners” at the ASTR’s. At the ASTR’s, we are all equal and learn from each other. We are “teachers” and “learners”,  “professors” and “students” at the same time.

 

The topic of this year’s workshop is “Accelerated Life Testing: It’s Role, Challenges, Attributes, and Interaction with Qualification Testing”.  Accelerated life tests (ALTs) are aimed at the revealing and understanding the physics of expected or occurred failures, as well as at the accumulation of failure statistics. This means that the ALTs are able to both detect the possible failure modes and mechanisms and to quantitatively evaluate the roles of the phenomena and processes that might lead to failures. Adequately designed, carefully conducted, and properly interpreted, ALTs provide a consistent basis for obtaining the ultimate information of the reliability of a product - the probability of failure.  Physics-of-failure (PoF) concepts provide a crucial paradigm for making ALT a productive science.  Researchers and engineers are therefore actively involved in providing the framework and infrastructure that is needed to infuse more PoF into our ALT activities. ALTs can dramatically facilitate the solutions to the most feasible compromise between adequate levels of reliability, cost effectiveness and time-to-market.  ALTs can help a manufacturer to make his device into a product. ALTs should play a crucial role in the evaluation, prediction and assurance of the reliability of micro- and opto-electronic devices and systems, as well as in the development, design, qualification and manufacturing of micro- and opto-electronic (photonic) products. ALTs should be conducted, whenever possible, in addition to the qualification tests, which are required by the existing standards. There might be also situations, when ALTs can and should be employed as an effective substitution for qualification tests. ALTs should be used as a consistent basis for the improvement of the existing qualification specifications.  

 

Our workshop has brought together reliability specialists from the numerous diversified areas of reliability and quality engineering: electrical, industrial, manufacturing, materials, mechanical, optical, communications, avionic, automotive, etc., as well as business leaders, involved in reliability and testing. The workshop provides a unique opportunity for reliability engineers to broaden their knowledge in various areas of the ASTR-related technologies and applications. During the three days of the workshop, these professionals will address and discuss the state-of-the-art, challenges, attributes and possible pitfalls in the ASTR engineering.

 

The three-day event offers technical sessions with presentations, tutorials and a trade-show.  Featured keynote and welcome addresses will be given by Dr. Tony Avak, Navair, Dr. Charles Cohn, Agere Technologies, Prof. Avram Bar-Cohen, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, UMD, Prof. Michael Pecht, Director of the UMD CALCE Center, and the three General Co-Chairs of the ASTR’2007 workshop: Cheryl Tulkoff, Abhijit Dasgupta and Ephraim Suhir.

 

This conference is sponsored by the IEEE Components Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society (CPMT).  The Technical co-sponsors are the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), and the University of Maryland at College Park (UMD). 

 

As one of the ASTR’07 General Co-Chairs, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my colleagues, Cheryl Tulkoff and Abhijit Dasgupta, the two excellent and dedicated General Co-Chairs, to John Proulx, who did, as always, an excellent job as an active and extraordinarily creative Organizing Committee member, as well as to the other members of the Organizing Committee and Session Chairs. They have all worked so hard to ensure the workshop is a resounding success. I would like also acknowledge the sponsoring IEEE CPMT Society (Mrs. Marsha Tickman is its Executive Director for many years) and its Reliability Technical Committee (TC-7) for providing the organizational support in promoting and coordinating this workshop. I acknowledge, with thanks, the contributions of Dr. Tony Avak, Dr. Charles Cohn, and Prof. Ali Shakouri, as the ASTR’07 keynote speakers. I acknowledge also the effort of the tutorial instructors Dan Rasky, Abhijit Dasgupta, Wayne Tustin, Paul Parker, and Marc Millet who have contributed a lot to our understanding the state of the art and challenges in the ASTR field, including its legal aspects. Special thanks are due to the companies and organizations for sponsoring the workshop. Last, but not the least,  we all value the outstanding contributions of our authors for sharing with us their latest research results, and, certainly, all the ASTR’07 attendees and exhibitors for their  participation in the workshop.

 

Ephraim Suhir

 

Ephraim Suhir, PhD,

General Co-Chair,

IEEE, APS, IoP, ASME, SPE Fellow,

University of California, Santa Cruz, CA,

University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland,

and ERS Co., Los Altos, CA

ASTR 2005:

(June 28, 2005)

ASTR Workshop Chairman’s Corner

What is the ASTR Annual Workshop Committee?

Welcome to the IEEE ASTR 2005 Workshop Committee. This committee is dedicated to communicating best practices of accelerated stress testing and reliability. We do this by hosting an annual three day interactive workshop located in a different area of the US each year. The committee members understand first hand the value ASTR brings to product development.

The workshop is designed to bring together many disciplines and experiences revolving around ASTR.  The workshop consists of volunteer speakers who present tutorials and technical examples of testing they have conducted. The material centers on topics that relate specifically to accelerated stress testing and reliability.

The committee is made up of volunteers that are currently practicing and improving ASTR methods. The committee members come from all over the country and have diverse backgrounds in science and industry.  Most committee members have been in this field for over ten years, however, the committee welcomes all newcomers interested in ASTR. The committee meets each month on a teleconference to discuss the upcoming workshop issues and action items.

At the beginning of each the workshop, the committee meets in person to elect new chair people and set strategy for the coming year. During the workshop the committee members coordinate the tutorials and presentations, acting as moderators and assisting with questions and comments form the workshop participants.

You can help accelerate ASTR knowledge. We welcome you to participate in the workshop either by attending or by presenting. If you are interested, and know of anyone else who would be interested, please contact anyone on the committee for more information.

ASTR will benefit those most that support its merit.

ASTR 2004:

(March 22, 2004)

Welcome to the ASTR Chairman’s Corner. This part of the website will serve to report on past activities and to inform on upcoming events.

I want to personally invite you and your associates to participate in this year’s ASTR workshop in Chicago Ill. The reason this conference is called a “workshop” is the informal, yet structured, venue provided by the committee. Instead of official white papers, interactive presentations are offered to the audience for review and dialog. Feedback is welcomed and communicated back to the speakers.

The workshop is much more USER driven than vendor oriented. Because of the cooperative atmosphere, many topics are explored and numerous issues are bridged. The workshop becomes the most concentrated annual gathering of AST engineers in the field.

You are encouraged to submit an abstract and present a paper at the workshop. During the workshop attendees are welcome to ask questions, provide feedback and contribute their expertise. I look forward to seeing you there.

Past Activities

The Hotel is selected.

The Registration page is online.

The Call for papers is being distributed.

New sponsors are being sought.

Cooperation between SAE and IEEE ASTR

 

Upcoming Events

Next Committee meeting, (telecon), April 22, 2004

Abstracts, Abstracts, Abstracts.

Sponsor logos and links may be added to the Website.