Increasing demands on process standards result in the adaptation of quality characteristics of products and their longevity in all areas of industry. Shorter temperature changes result in higher demands on the load-bearing capacity of joints in a wide range of applications. The more reliable, silver-free solder system serves here as an optimization to the standardized SAC305 solder. Newer dopants offer economically relevant aspects with regard to the long-term reliability of joints and products. They enable the microstructural interface between strength and flexibility of the solder joint of electronic assemblies within the value chain.

Resilient electronics are crucial in ensuring the reliability and longevity of electronic assemblies. Achieving optimal functionality, compliance, manufacturability, and supply while maintaining cost, time, and sustainability can be an overwhelming challenge for any electronics value chain. But with modern software and the targeted utilization of digital twins, this task becomes more tangible than ever before. In this presentation, we will explore the challenges, implications, and opportunities associated with resilient electronics.

The Component Obsolescence Group (COG) estimates that in 2018 about 4% of electronic components worldwide were counterfeits. The dangers posed by counterfeited electrotechnical components are much more severe than merely financial damage. Should such components end up inside medical equipment, safety technology, or even worse, in aircraft, those manipulated components can - and will - cost lives. Even the Pentagon has had to deal with counterfeit components. In 2010, a US broker was shut down and the owner convicted of fraud for selling manipulated electronic components, which ended up in US Air Force fighter jets and in train braking systems, among other products. It is unclear whether counterfeit components were also installed in rockets or satellites, but given the quantity of individual components and the extremely high profit margin, owing to the exorbitant prices for space components, it is very likely. 

This makes it clear how important it is to detect counterfeit components in advance in order to minimize the danger they pose. A variety of different examination methods like (optical) light microscopy, X-Ray inspection, XRF, Scanning Acoustic microscopy etc. are used for this purpose. In this panel, we will give you an insight into the everyday work of HTV Conservation analytics in the fight against manipulated components, as well as insight into our experience with counterfeit electrical components, and we will show you how counterfeiting has changed over time and how these forgeries are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. We will also show you which techniques counterfeiters use to conceal their manipulations. 

In order to avoid having to buy components on the open market, HTV Conservation also offers a long-term preservation process, in which electronic components can be stored for up to 50 years, whereby the suppression of all common aging mechanisms is cyclically verified with the test methods of the laboratory.

The electronics components industry as one of the most dynamic industries on the planet regularly falls victim to its cyclicality – major swings from oversupply to severe allocations. The last 2 years have seen an outrageous mix of transportation problems, demand surge and severe shortages across many component families that even in the current downturn still exist. 
While cyclicality will stay with us forever, the question arises “how to mitigate the problems of supply and demand mismatches by digital means?” The future supply chain will get more complicated and will need more digital tools to create a quasi-global transparency on both product information, availability alerts and transactional processes.
This presentation tries to show some ways of improving supply chain transparency by a cooperative approach across company boundaries.
Georg Steinberger is a 35-year industry and distribution veteran and current works as a freelance industry consultant, writer and speaker for Sourceability. He is also Chairman of the German Components Distribution Association (FBDi) and President of the International Electronics Distribution Association (IDEA).