Creep Corrosion in Electronics – A Panel Discussion
A group of industry experts will discuss the evidence of the root causes of creep corrosion, relevant testing, and effective mitigation strategies available to prevent creep corrosion failures in electronics. Fundamentally, creep corrosion is the product of the reaction of copper with sulfur, which may be mitigated with manufacturing processes, such as the printed circuit board solder mask and surface finish, conformal coating, and enclosure levels, as well as during end-use operation, such as filtration. Several types of harsh environmental test methods that are used to evaluate for product susceptibility to creep corrosion will also be reviewed.
Panelists include:
• Randy Schueller, Ph.D., Dell, Director, Client Reliability & Durability
• Christopher Genthe, Rockwell Automation, Senior Principal Engineer
• Paul Leone, Rockwell Automation, Principal Engineer
Lead Panelist Bio
Sean Clancy Ph.D. is the Director of Materials Science at HZO and an Adjunct Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Utah. Sean has been associated with HZO for over ten years and is responsible for ALD and Parylene coating process development for advanced applications and assisting marketing and sales with new customer development.
Before joining HZO, Sean led the electronics failure analysis group and managed projects at the US Navy’s Electronics Manufacturing Productivity Facility, administered by ACI Technologies. He has also worked in research fields involving carbon nanotubes, polymer supercapacitors, light-emitting materials, and medicinal chemistry. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of Southern California and his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of North Florida.
Panelist Bios
Randy Schueller, Ph.D., Dell, Director, Client Reliability & Durability
Randy has returned to Dell in 2021 to run the Reliability & Durability groups. Before this, he was Director of Reliability at Osram/Vixar and before that he was a consultant for DfR Solutions. He has also held product development and leadership roles at 3M, Extreme Devices and Dell Technologies. Randy received his B.S. in physics from St. John’s U and his Ph.D. in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Christopher Genthe, Rockwell Automation, Senior Principal Engineer
Chris Genthe is a Senior Principal Engineer with Rockwell Automation’s Chemistry and Materials Engineering Group. He has over 35 years of experience in materials, including metallurgy, corrosion identification, and control, material selection, failure analysis, processing, and accelerated testing, with 25 years at Rockwell. Chris has co-authored several publications, has three patents pertaining to corrosion control of electronic assemblies, received seven Rockwell innovation awards, and was a member of the 2018 Rockwell Team of the Year. Chris was awarded the Rockwell Engineer of the Year in 2020 for his work on the development of gas phase accelerated corrosion test methods that target specific corrosion mechanisms in electronics. He earned a BS and MS in Materials Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and is an adjunct professor teaching Environmental Degradation of Materials at the same institution.
Paul Leone, Rockwell Automation, Principal Engineer, Quality & Reliability
Paul Leone is a Principal Engineer in Quality & Reliability at Rockwell Automation. He has over 25 years of industrial and manufacturing experience ranging from product design to end-user control system integration. He is the first to achieve the Principal Engineer title in Quality at Rockwell Automation. Paul is recognized as a subject matter expert in corrosion of electronics, failure analysis, and design for reliability (DfR). He has consulted with component manufacturers to develop corrosion-resistant components. He has been featured in multiple webinars and publications focused on the impact of corrosion in electronics and design for reliability in corrosive environments. He received his BS in EET from Penn State University.