Beltsville, MD – September 12, 2017 – DfR Solutions, leader in quality, reliability, and durability (QRD) solutions for the electronics industry, today announced the next release of Sherlock Automated Design Analysis™ software – Version 5.3. Advanced features include Thermal-Mechanical Analysis. This advanced new capability provides the ability to capture system-level effects on solder joint reliability during temperature cycling.

Thermal issues are at the root of many product failures in today’s electronics designs. Modern products are more complex, smaller, require more power, and operate in more extreme environments than ever before.  The more complex the design, the greater the thermal strain on the components. To help reduce this risk and ensure more reliable products, electronics manufacturers conduct time consuming and costly thermal-mechanical analyses on their devices.

Sherlock Automated Design Analysis™ Software uses a Physics of Failure approach to indicate when thermal temperatures are too hot for integrated circuits and solder joints. The new Thermal-Mechanical Capability now available in Sherlock version 5.3 enables users to quickly and easily run thermal-mechanical analyses directly in Sherlock, saving valuable engineering resources by eliminating time-consuming data-entry. Using Sherlock’s Thermal-Mechanical Analysis provides more accurate thermal profiles of product designs, especially early on in product development where they can have the most impact.

The Thermal-Mechanical Analysis in Sherlock enables design improvement by changing component type, material parameters, and or layout to minimize loads during thermal expansion. Understanding the interaction of mounting points and components during thermal expansion assures a more reliable PCB layout under thermal-mechanical stresses.

Sherlock’s Thermal-Mechanical Analysis provides the ability to capture system-level effects on solder joint reliability during temperature cycling. Examples of system-level effects include:

• Mirroring
• Over-constrained boards
• Potting/coating

“Thermal-mechanical stresses are a huge issue for today’s electronics manufacturers,” stated DfR Solutions CEO Craig Hillman. “These conditions induce significant strain into the solder joint and greatly reduce overall product lifetime. This is a critical concern particularly to manufacturers of products for harsh environments like Avionics and Automotive.  But also, equally important to manufacturers of powerful small devices like the mobile industry.  No other commercial analysis tool gives users the capability to capture this very real risk” said Hillman.

Other New Sherlock 5.3 features include:

• Increased Parts Library customizability for more efficient parts review
• Revised QFN solder fatigue model – incorporates the effect of mold compound CTE and glass transition temperature on fatigue life predictions
• New Help feature – searches through all of Sherlock’s user guides and educational materials
• New User tab – traceability for parts creation and modification
• Expanded part library capabilities – permits more flexibility during the export process
• Semiconductor Wearout analysis – incorporates part temperature rises
• GUI changes – improves the overall user-friendliness of Sherlock

About Sherlock Automated Design Analysis™ Software

Sherlock is the first-of-its-kind Automated Design Analysis software for analyzing, grading, and certifying the expected reliability of products at the circuit card assembly level. Based on the science of Physics of Failure, it is used by the electronics industry across all markets. Sherlock continues to evolve, incorporating new innovations and enhancements allowing users to manage increasingly complex analyses faster and more efficiently than ever before.

About DfR Solutions

DfR Solutions has world-renowned expertise in applying the science of Reliability Physics to electrical and electronics technologies and is a leading provider of quality, reliability, and durability (QRD) research and consulting for the electronics industry. The company’s integrated use of Physics of Failure (PoF) and Best Practices provides crucial insights and solutions early in product design and development and throughout the product life cycle. DfR Solutions specializes in providing knowledge- and science-based solutions to maximize and accelerate the product integrity assurance activities of their clients in every marketplace for electronic technologies (consumer, industrial, automotive, medical, military, telecom, oil drilling, and throughout the electronic component and material supply chain). For more information regarding DfR Solutions, visit www.dfrsolutions.com.