Reliability as a scientific discipline is concerned with the analysis, assessment and prediction of the lifetime of microelectronic systems (e. g. integrated circuit packageing, MEMS, etc.).

The grand challenges involved therein are:

• the handling of the complexity of microsystems (system-reliability),/li>
• the correlation of degradation to the nanostructure of the materials (nano-reliability),
• the generation of lifetime models for the transferability between field and lab testing conditions (definition of accelerated and combined tests), and
• the assurance of functional safety in systems with increased reliability requirements (prognostics and health management)

Reliability prediction crucially hinges upon the correct and accurate description of the respective failure mechanisms. The research therefore comprises the development of lifetime models for microsystems starting from the material level up to the system level, based on the physical understanding of the materials involved in terms of their properties and failure mechanisms as function of their structure and external loading conditions (‘physics of failure‘).

The chair is responsible for the scientific education in the field of material science for students of electrical engineering and microelectronics and focuses on the reliability assessment and prediction for micro and nano systems for graduate students.

The offered lectures cover topics in

• Advanced materials in electronics and microsystem technology
• Reliability of micro and nanosystems
• Quality management
• Modern methods in material and failure analysis
• Numerical methods in reliability

Reliability as a scientific discipline is concerned with the analysis, assessment and prediction of the lifetime of microelectronic systems (e.g. of interconnects and interfaces of standard and advanced packages, BEOL-layers, MEMS, 3D- architectures, SIP, etc).

The group carries out R&D in following fields of competence in electronics packaging:

• Physics-of-Failure-based Lifetime modelling
• Material characterisation in the thermal and mechanical domain
• Multi-field and multi scale simulation and experimental characterisation
• Neural networks for prognostics and health management
• Method & hardware development for accelerated stress testing
• Heat transfer and thermal management concepts
• Materials & Components testing at cryogenic temperatures (LN2 & LHe)
• Method & hardware development for inline-testing & smart production of electronic systems

The chair collaborates intensively with:

• Fraunhofer ENAS
• Centre for Micro and Nanotechnologies (ZfM) at TU Chemnitz
• Centre for Materials, Architectures and Integration of Nanomembranes (MAIN) at TU Chemnitz
• Joint Lab Berlin (JLB) for Thermal Management