Advanced Techniques in EEE Components Testing for Space applications

The reliability of the components used in a spacecraft is a determinating factor for their operation and performance throughout the mission life.

Only the most advanced techniques are able to provide the depth and accuracy in the inspections required by the current state of the art microelectronics.

Determining the root cause of failure requires advanced techniques employed to detect the origin of the observed failure mechanism since many materials can form crystals, X-ray crystallography has been fundamental for identifying its atomic and molecular structure.

Alter Technology offers:

• Material Analysis
• 3D X-Ray Inspection electronic components
• XPS – X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy electronic components, parts, etc.
• TEM – Transmission Electron Microscopy electronic components, parts, etc.
• SEM/FIB – Scanning Electron Microscopy / Focused Ion Beam electronic components
• Accelerate Life Testing

A scanning electron microscope ( SEM ) produces images of a sample by scanning it with a focused beam of electrons, containing information about the sample´s surface topography and composition achieving resolutions higher than 1 nanometer.

The X-ray laboratory provides access to the state of the art equipment and technologies, Radiography uses radiation energy to penetrate solid objects in order to assess variations in thickness or density, allowing detecting cracks among other internal imperfections.

3D Submicron resolution imaging

Alter Technology laboratories experience is unequaled in both the number and the variety of parts tested, Alter Technology has developed the skills necessary to design test procedures to inspect virtually any electronic component to a broad range of specifications.

SEM/FIB – Scanning Electron Microscopy / Focused Ion Beam electronic components

Focused Ion Beam, also known as FIB, is a technique used particularly in the semiconductor industry and materials science, which incorporates in a system both electron and ion beam columns, allowing the same feature to be investigated any either of the beams.

TEM – Transmission Electron Microscopy

Transmission electron microscopy ( TEM ) is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through an ultra-thin specimen.

XPS – X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy XPS technique can be applied to a broad range of materials and provides valuable quantitative and chemical state information from the surface of the material being studied, up to 5nm depth.

Accelerate Life Testing

Advanced Life Testing is a valuable tool for determining or improving the quality of primarily electronic, electromechanical and mechanical systems and component, is a process of testing a product by subjecting it to particular conditions of stress, temperature, voltage, vibrations, pressure, etc, exceeded its normal service parameters in an effort to uncover faults and potential modes of failure in a short amount of time.

By analyzing the product´s response to such tests, engineers can make predictions about the service life and maintenance intervals of a product.