BREAKING NEW BARRIERS

1. BREAKING NEW BARRIERS TO FIGHT STATIC DAMAGE

2. ESD Mitigation Through Detection Presented by Lawrence Weber Tobyhanna Army Depot

3. Presentation Contents • Part 1 --- Status • Part 2. --- Promising Detector Technology • Part 3. --- Benefits • RECOMMENDATIONS

4. Part 1 --- Status • Nature of Static Damage • Static Forensics • Degradation from Static • Electro Static Discharge Impact • Digital System Susceptibility • Analog System Susceptibility

5. 1a. Nature of Static Damage • Static Impulses are fast , and can bypass limit protection . Even at less than 50% of the manufacturers specified damaging level they may produce “HIDDEN” internal damage • Degradation may only be noticed after accumulation of static damage • Damage is more likely where micron size structures exist • Static Voltages of >100V are sufficient to damage many components. This can be generated by the mere wave of an arm.

6. 1b. Static Forensics- Costly • 1) module • 2) low mag view • 3) critical area • 4) structure • 5) highest light mag • 6) Radial Blowout • 7) Bipolar defect High power Microscope costs $100/HR + skilled labor. Electron Microscope costs $600/HR + skilled labor

7. 1c. Degradation from Static • Most likely occurs when armament is mounted for use in field conditions and is exacerbated by multiple usage cycles • Longer lifetime cycles of maintenance, overhaul, repair and field use, result in larger accumulations of static damage and degraded performance thus reducing reliability.

8. 1d. ESD IMPACT –well known • 10% of ESD HITS cause evident damage- while 90% cause intermittent failures or non- events – REF#1 • Cost of ESD damage increases 10 fold at every level of maintenance –from component to system • 25% of rated destructive level often enough to cause degrading damage - REF#1 • Hidden damage may emerge later adding a new fault REF#1 “Soft Failures- The Invisible Mode” by Donald Frank McDonnel Douglas Aircraft Paper ,Presented at RELIABILITY and MAINTAINABILITY SYMPOSIUM Los Angeles, California 26 Jan 1982

9. 1e. Digital Systems Susceptibility • Static hits may result in bit changes particularly when high speed requirements exist • Data and Address Busses are very susceptible and link many chips • Damage is difficult to detect until static sensitive device has latent failure • CPU and MEMORY susceptibility doubles as sizes halve driven by increased speed and lower voltages

10. 1f. Analog Control Systems Susceptibility Many sensor driven control loops use AGC(Automatic Gain Control ) to limit signals. Degraded Static sensitive automatic gain components may have lost robust performance…..

11. PART 2 ---Promising Detector Technology • Unobtrusive miniature detector • MOSED (Magneto-Optic Static Detector) .025in X .025in • Can be inserted in critical locations • No internal power requirements • Reusable • Maintains tripped condition • Rugged – can withstand harsh environments • Requires visual discrimination through a microscope and polarizing disk to recognize tripped condition

12. Part 3. --- IMPLEMENTATION BENEFITS • Reduced Rework Plan • Repair/Operational Availability • Improved Operation in Harsh Environments • Lifecycle Quality Spot-check • Dual Use

13. 3a. Reduced Rework Plan • Screen for tripped detector • Screen for GOOD/BAD • Repair/Replace • Verify Repair • Final Test • Focused Static awareness

14. 3b. Repair/Operational Ability • Repair/Overhaul Savings • Early rejection of static-damage avoids cost of added testing and multiple faults isolation. • Cost avoidance by locating process induced failures

15. 3c. Life-Cycle Quality Spot-Check • Old method regarded “Blanket” ESD protection as sufficient • New method will follow ESD sensitive equipment and monitor health throughout the lifecycle • Develops data to target specific ESD hazards

16. Reduced downtime, Lowered operation cost, Enhanced personnel Safety 3d. Improved Availability in ESD-prone Surroundings

17. Observations • 25 years of ESD preventative design and control methods has been successful, but – • Electronic devices are becoming increasingly sensitive to ESD because; • Features are decreasing in size and • New materials break down at lower voltages • Accumulated Soft Failures degrade circuit performance, but may not be catastrophic • System integrity is threatened by undetected ESD events • ESD damage can occur anywhere in the production, test, shipment or field use of equipment • Maybe undetected or unobserved • No tenable scheme exists for recording or retrieving relevant data to document that an ESD event occurred.

18. Recommendation • Develop a Static Event Detector (SED) Health Monitor system able to record an ESD event that may have inflicted catastrophic damage or may have degraded performance. Key elements: • Advanced SED device incorporating the following • Variable threshold circuit • Simplified two pixel magneto-optic detectors • Continuous unattended operation with no need for an external power source • A reader that optically interrogates individual SED’s and utilizes automated pattern recognition to identify the modules or components most likely damaged • A SED reset function accomplished using external magnetic fields

19. Opportunity • Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) has found $2.53 M of opportunity cost during a facility wide work flow analysis that may be attributed to static discharge damage

20. ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE Sustaining availability of weapon system to meet the threat…