35 ■IEEE CIRCUITS & DEVICES MAGAZINE ■ JULY/AUGUST 2005 8755-3996/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE

REVIEWSBook

PREVENTING THERMAL CYCLINGAND VIBRATION FAILURES IN

ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENTBy Dave S. Steinberg, John Wiley &Sons, 2001.

Environmental failure-rate studies inmilitary aircraft have shown that about50% of all the electronic failures arerelated to thermal events, and 20% aredue to vibration. But thermal expansionand shrink or vibration are not avoidedwhen we turn equipment on and off ortransport electronic systems. Thermal-cycle stress and vibration stress are gen-erated by running opto-electronicsystems. Every stress cycle will use uppart of the fatigue life in the load-carry-ing structural elements of the system.When the total number of stress cyclesreaches a critical level in the weakestelement of the system, failures willoccur. These failures are often caused byvarious combinations of thermal, vibra-tion, shock, humidity, salt, and dustenvironments combined with poordesign practices, poor manufacturingprocesses, and poor maintenance. Thisbook focuses on how electronic compo-nents are affected by temperature varia-tions and vibration during use, how toprevent such problems, and how theconcept of damage accumulation can beused to determine the approximatefatigue life of electronic componentsand assemblies.

The book has 15 chapters. Chapter 1explains the physics of failure in elec-tronic systems. Chapters 2–4 describe

the different parameters that cause ther-mal displacement and vibration for com-ponents, structure, and print boards.Chapter 5 points out how to estimatefatigue life in thermal cycling and vibra-tion environments. Chapters 6–10 pro-vide a design guide for preventingvibration and thermal expansion. Chap-ter 10 covers both fatigue damage forrandom vibration and thermal cycling.Chapters 11–13 identify failures due todifferent assemblies. Chapter 14 sum-marizes ware and interface surface fret-ting corrosion in electrical connectors.Chapter 15 gives the case histories offailures and failure analyses. There is alist of symbols used, a bibliography, andan index.

This book is very organized and read-able. It deals with the package of elec-tronic equipment to prevent damageform vibration and exposure to a largevariation in temperature. There are a lotof formulas and curves to help manufac-tures design, analyze, and evaluate elec-tronic systems for lower costs andimproved reliability in harsh environ-ments using hand calculations withoutthe aid of a larger computer so that asanity check can be realized.

This book should be very useful notonly for managers and engineers work-ing in the automobile, missile, commu-nication, and entertainment electronicequipment industries, but also for themanagers and engineers working inopto-electronic device industries, suchas semiconductor optical componentsand transceivers, because such opticalcomponents and modules have samethermal cycling and vibration failureproblem.

INTRODUCTION TONANOTECHNOLOGY

By Charles P. Poole and Frank J. Owens,John Wiley & Sons, 2003.

Nanotechnology is the latest high-tech term that people hear today. Theterm is not simple to understand; it cov-ers many aspects of usage. Basically, thetechnology explores new material byaltering atomic composition. These newmaterials have many new applicationslike better superconductivity and moreelastic material and different light/wave-length detection.

The book covers new materials andtheir possible applications, ranging fromelectrical to organic applications. Dis-cussions about nanotechnology mayinvolve the quantum effect. The bookdoes have one chapter discussing qua-tum wells, wires, and dots. The descrip-tions go into the electron level asexpected. Alternating material propertycan make more efficient catalyst. C60 isdiscussed, and carbon nanotubes arementioned, from fabrication to materialproperty. Various charts are plotted toshow the impact of slight atomic com-position changes.

The book is suitable for those withchemical or atomic-structure back-grounds. Due to the technical nature ofthe content, it is recommended forresearch scientists.

LIGHTNING, PHYSICSAND EFFECTS

By V.A. Rakov and M.A. Uman, Cam-bridge University Press, 2003.

It is exciting to study the physics oflightning and, indeed, the physics ofmany aspects of nature, such as hurri-canes, tornados, floods, earthquakes,etc., so that someday we will be able tocontrol these natural events and even-tually turn the vast energy of naturefrom destructive to useful resources.The authors of this book deserve to becomplimented for their study of natu-ral events and their efforts in writingthis book.

If you are interested in reviewing abook for IEEE Circuits & DevicesMagazine, please visit our Web siteat http://www.ieee.org/cdmag for acomplete list of available titles.