Lenovo (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Alberto Jose Rojas

Robert James Kapinos

James Stephen Rutledge

Sean Michael Ulrich

James C Salembier

Shane Christopher Branch

Farrel David Benton

Simon David Nicholas Taylor

A system and method for sensing the formation of tin whiskers is presented. An assembly substrate includes whisker detectors at various locations for detecting tin whiskers in an X direction, a Y direction, and a Z direction relative to the assembly substrate. Each whisker detector includes sense traces and a trace bridge that produce 'planar gaps' and 'orthogonal gaps' that are smaller than trace gaps produced by other traces on the assembly substrate. As such, tin whiskers short across the planar gaps and orthogonal gaps before they short across trace gaps. When the assembly substrate is finished with processing steps, a system tester performs a continuity test on the whisker detectors. When the continuity test fails, an operator is notified to check for tin whiskers on the assembly substrate. Once shipped, a processor monitors the whisker detectors for shorts throughout the product's lifecycle.

System and method for sensing the formation of tin whiskers

Growing community of inventors

Morrisville, NC, United States of America

Alberto Jose Rojas