An assessment of the Qualified Manufacturer List (QML)

Author

Pecht, Michael G. ; Fink, John ; Hakim, Edward ; Wyler, John

Author_Institution

CALCE-EPRC, Maryland Univ., College Park, MD, USA

Volume

12

Issue

7

fYear

1997

fDate

7/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

39

Lastpage

42

Abstract

The Qualified Manufacturer List (QML) approach, detailed in MIL-I-38535, General Specification for Integrated Circuits (Microcircuit) Manufacturing, embraces many of the commercial practices employed by high volume microcircuit suppliers. Nevertheless, with the availability of highly reliable and lower cost commercial parts, the QML approach becomes unnecessary and undesirable. In this paper we attempt to show why US government support of the QML program is leading the military and government to unaffordable access to out-dated technologies, damaging our country´s military and avionics position. We will present information to show why we support the retraction of MIL-PRF-38535 and any other documents which imply that QML parts are superior to commercial parts, including those of QPL, MIL-STD-454, and MIL-HDBK-217 (now prohibited from use in all new Army programs)

Keywords

integrated circuit manufacture; military equipment; military standards; MIL-PRF-38535 retraction; QML; avionics; high volume microcircuit suppliers; integrated circuits manufacturing; military equipment; out-dated technologies; qualified manufacturer list; Availability; Control systems; Costs; Electronic equipment; Integrated circuit manufacture; Integrated circuit reliability; Laboratories; Manufacturing industries; Military standards; US Government;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-8985

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/62.596656

Filename

596656